Soaring Society's 2017 Region 5 North Contest

 
By Valerie Sliker

Around the third week of April each year, 65 pilots spend a week soaring 5,000 feet above town with no engine and very little navigational tools.  Pilots and their families from almost every state in our nation visit our beautiful edge of Aiken County, SC for seven or more days.  That’s 200 visitors patronizing our local businesses and entertaining our kids, encouraging them to pursue their dreams.

The Soaring Society of America’s Region 5 hosts the Region 5 North contest in Perry, SC each year, maxing out with 65 pilots & a long waiting list of hopefuls primarily due to the excellence of Al and Rhonda Tyler's air-strip, the high level of expertise Tyler demands, & the social camaraderie of any sport's seasonal kick-off event.  The Perry event is the only contest in the United States that has the maximum of 65 pilots and a waiting list.  It’s the best attended regional competition in the entire country and it’s right here in our little slice of Aiken County. 

In this area, 4,000 – 6,000 feet altitude is expected for a glider.  In this contest, 4 – 5 hours in the air is typical.  Everything depends on the weather, the thermals.  The pilots have an estimated start-time each day, but it all depends on the weather.  

The Region 5 North contest has four different classes for competition, mostly based upon wing size.  The Open Class has the biggest wing span, 20 meters.  Then there’s the 18-meter class, the 15-meter class and the Sports class.  Each class has a daily winner.  Add up the daily points and the cumulative points for the week is the winner in each class.  The Soaring Society keeps the records and a pilot’s ranking helps them get into the busy contests, like Perry’s.  

Busbee's Hardware Store Changes Ownership

Pictured left to right: Doug Busbee, Mae Busbee, Jud Busbee, Paul Salley, Betty Salley, Christopher Salley
Back row: Gwen Busbee Salley, Scott Moore
Photos and Article by Valerie Sliker, courtesy Wagener Monthly

After 69 years serving the community in five different locations, Busbee’s Hardware and Supply Company has closed the business to reopen under new ownership and a new name, same location.  Paul and Tina Salley have purchased the store and have opened it under the name of Palmetto Hardware and Outdoors.  The Salleys have extended the store hours.  Follow them on Facebook/PalmettoHardware to stay current with the changes.

As Jud Busbee handed the keys to Paul Salley on February 9, 2017 in the presence of the store founder’s wife, Mae Busbee, his mother, the humorous spirit of store founder, the late Jim Busbee shone forth as Jud, leaving the store, took his mother’s arm saying, “Mama needs some gas money to get back home now.”

Jim Busbee would be proud.

Jim Busbee’s humor and infamous pranks will live on long past the closing of his store.  First time visitors to the store were always invited to enjoy Jim’s special “ice-cream sale of the day” and encouraged to pop open the freezer to get an ice-cream.  Locals are well aware that the freezer is stocked with a taxidermist’s dream, stocked full of larger-than-life vicious snakes and rodents killed by town residents, but new comers?  Not so much.  The screams could be heard throughout the store.

Gardening Tips from Master Gardener Rev. Jim Bennett

By Valerie Sliker

Master Gardener Rev. Jim Bennett held a gardening seminar in the Wagener United Methodist Church fellowship hall on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017.  Bennett is known for the gardening TV show he hosted before his ministry days and also for his work at Southern Living.  He currently tests seeds for the AAS , has a column in the Wagener Monthly newspaper and is in his 23rd year of ministry. 

Bennett opened the meeting discussing the new seeds he will be testing this Spring.  He has a hybrid watermelon in which the vines will remain small and a hearty tomato that is Cf-9 (I think) resistant which, he enthusiastically claims, "If you fertilize it right, you will have to cut it down to make a sandwich."  By the way, his watermelon tip?  Plant gourds in with your watermelon - deer won't eat gourds and will leave your melons alone.  And your cukes?  Plant them around an old discarded Christmas tree.  They'll climb the tree and the cucumbers will never lay on the ground, no yellow bellies.

It would take an entire website to share all of Bennett's tips, but I'll share a few here to get you started.  It's time to get your seeds started in your greenhouse.  Yogurt containers and cardboard egg cartons are great for this.  Pop a tiny hole in the bottom of the yogurt cups for drainage.  Tear the cardboard egg containers in half.  Mold tin foil under the bottom of the egg half and lay it on top of the solid top half to limit your drainage mess.  When it's time to plant them in the ground, you can plant egg carton and all since it will disintegrate.

Library Guide Spotlights Indian Head

Photo Credit:  Pamela Hansen
Article By Bill Bengtson, courtesy Wagener Monthly

A New York resident with SC roots has been honored for her research efforts focusing on several generations of SC history, with particular emphasis on the county's northeastern corner.

St. John's University student Pamela Griffin-Hansen, who lives on Long Island, is pursuing a master's degree in library and information science and archives, and has paid intense attention in recent months to "the place called the Indian Head," as a parcel near Perry has been known to some local residents.

The tract, which became the site of a historical marker in September, is the subject of a research tool -- known as a library guide, or "LibGuide" -- that she created and also submitted for a South Carolina Library Association poster competition.  She named it "Indian Head of Perry, South Carolina," and it won the state's top prize in the association's "student spotlight" category.

Griffin-Hansen's creation is online at bit.ly/2hmjs8u.  Plans are in place for a poster-size version of it to be placed in the Wagener Museum, the Nancy Bonnette Library (also in Wagener) and the Perry Town Hall.  "She incorporates... a lot of the important parts of the history in that poster, and she just did a magnificent job," said project supporter Al Brodie, a former mayor of Perry.

Lexington resident Dean Hunt, also a project booster, said the guide should be useful for teachers and students alike, and offers the welcome bonus of exploring Native American history, "which is just not out there."

WSHS Grads Continue Welding Programs

By Valerie Sliker, courtesy Wagener Monthly

Former Wagener-Salley High School (WSHS) graduates Richie Bailey, Jamie Poole and Oscar Rushton are excited about continuing the welding programs at Swansea High School (SHS), WSHS and South Aiken High School (SAHS) for the 2016/17 school year.  The three instructors intentionally collaborate to ensure their programs run closely together. They put in a lot of time together working out different processes, project based learning (PBL) curriculum and pacing guides for how the years are going to flow.  While the students don’t actually cross-participate, the instructors pace curriculum so they can turn to each other for problem solving, as well as recommendations.

Statistics show that the trade workforce is diminishing and people aren’t available to fill these jobs because they’ve been encouraged to get a college degree instead of developing a skill.  Far too many students are graduating college with too much debt and a scarcity of jobs available.  Career and Technology classes are making a come-back and proving to support the jobs that become the backbone of America. 

High school welding students are graduating with the knowledge of an entry level welder, not requiring further education to grab a job.  WSHS Welding Instructor Richie Bailey encourages his students to attend Aiken Tech for welding or industrial maintenance, free with the Life or Hope scholarship, and about 70% did last year.  However, he adds, “Kids need to understand that you can be successful with a trade.  You can make a lot of money in the service industry.  The sky is the limit.  If you have the desire and the work ethic, you can be successful without the four-year college.”

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