IT'S HARTSVILLE. And it is HOT!

 The weather app says the current temperature is 94 degrees and we can expect sunny conditions the rest of the day.  I did leave the window down because the last time I jumped in the Avalon the dashboard temperature said inside it was 110.  Today is June 1.  I guess we expect that this is the way it is supposed to be.  

So, the temperature is not really news but there are lots of things happening that sort of qualify as news in our town.  For example, did you know that if you live in the city limits the holiday moved your trash collection back a day.  If you generally have your trash picked up on Tuesday it should have been picked up today.  That is noted here because there has been some rumbling by people who think the city messed up -- THEY DID NOT.  

Because the Pandemic has been with us so long there are lots of things that are happening that seem to come under the category "normal/not normal."  The Darlington County School District is continuing the summer feeding program this year.

For the next comment, I am out of my depth but we still have to think about it even if I am not the person to lead the discussion -- 

Children across our country, heck people across our country are feeling less secure than many people can ever remember.  Adults need to, I think, do some stepping out and reaching out to children to sometimes blatantly ask and other times covertly ask if things are okay or if there is something you can do.  And, I do not care what you believe about guns if they are in the hands of children they should not be in their hands.  We have problems in our community with groups of young people thinking it is acceptable to target others with their firearms.  This is not a new normal that we can live with.  Kids being kids, few of them are carrying weapons without others knowing.  Right now it is not a question of do you have a right to carry -- but it is a question of SHOULD you?  NO. Adults have to step up even more now -- because we can see the problem.  Adults in this community can look out for others by giving some direction.  

This blog about community thinking is generally a pollyanna blog about all the great things happening in our community  -- like, did you know that today was CHALK day at the Hartsville Memorial Library.  

I hope all of stories can cover the fun things and the interesting things and I hope we can avoid the catastrophic things are are unfortunately all too common around our world today.

Author of the blog is Richard Puffer, dpuffer@gmail.com