TAKE A LESSON FROM Columbia County when it comes to handicap stickers, tags and handicap parking spaces. If Richmond County would start having sting arrests on these people, it would have more money than it needed. I know several people who drive a family member's car and use a handicap parking space and the handicapped person is not in the vehicle, and the person driving is no more handicapped than an NFL player. Five-hundred dollars a pop is a lot of money for Richmond County, because they have a bunch of offenders out there.

THIS IS A RAVE for reporter Johnny Edwards for pointing out Don Grantham's bigotry in regard to the new courthouse. It's high time we ran Grantham out of town on a rail.

THIS IS A RANT and a rave. It's a rave for Richmond County for re-evaluating the garbage pickup service, but it also a rant because if they made recycling mandatory, you wouldn't need all that garbage pickup, and it would save the landfill. Since I've got my recycling can, I could probably have garbage pickup once a month and still not have a full can. Recycling should be mandatory, not just for our sake but for our children's sake. Just get with it Richmond County.

THIS IS A RANT to the so-called rock and roll fans in Augusta. People always complain about not ever getting any well-known bands at the James Brown Arena. Well we have Lynyrd Skynyrd booked for the second week of November. I called the ticket office to see if I could still get a ticket, and the gentleman I spoke with said that not only were they not sold out, they had only sold about one-third of the tickets by Oct. 23. Come on, fellow rednecks, let's give up the case of brew and a night out with the boys and go see Skynyrd. I know I am. If they cancel I wouldn't blame them for lack of sales.

THIS IS A RANT for all the road construction on the South Carolina side of Highway 1. I was nearly involved in a car accident because someone in front of me had to slam on his brakes in order to avoid hitting someone that was being held by one of the workers. These workers need to be more careful.

I WANT TO KNOW why the schools aren't doing more to catch these kids who are bringing the weapons and especially the drugs into the schools? Why don't they make more children walk through metal detectors and pass by some drug-sniffing dogs on their way in the buildings every morning? It doesn't take but a few seconds, and it may just make these schools safer for our kids.

THE BOSHEARS FLY-IN is a lot of fun, but hopefully next year they will ban smoking. There was just too many people smoking there this year, and with all that gasoline for the planes, I don't know if that's safe or not.