COLUMBIA SPY

Columbus Day will be observed this coming Monday, October 14, but was traditionally observed on today's date, October 12.  Christopher Columbus has been hailed as the discoverer of the New World, but was in fact a ruthless, greedy entrepreneur who perpetrated genocide upon the indigenous peoples of North America. A website called The Oatmeal , which can be found HERE , has laid out in simple terms some of Columbus's most horrific and despicable crimes. Unfortunately, our hometown of Columbia was named for this mass murderer when Samuel Wright thought doing so would influence the US Congress to select it as the nation's capital. Here are two excerpts from The Oatmeal : Several groups have been working to have this holiday repealed and abolished, but considering our dysfunctional Congress's preoccupation with infighting and grandstanding, this goal seems elusive, at least for now. In the meantime, perhaps our borough council would consider ren...

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Rick Wiggins has been conducting an annual Symposium in Columbia for seven years about Columbia native son, Union Civil War General Thomas Welsh.  Each year, the event has drawn scores of Columbians and area residents interested in their local history.  This year's event is jointly sponsored by the Columbia Historic Preservation Society (CHiPS) and the Columbia Public Library and will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 19 at the Columbia Historic Preservation Society, 19-21 North Second Street. The program includes a visit by Capt. Henry A. Haines from Maytown (who served under Welsh in the 45th Regiment, and is portrayed by re-enactor Glenn Bachert), as well as the little-known story of the deployment of the 45th to the Sea Islands of South Carolina, where they encountered thousands of suddenly abandoned Island slaves (termed "contrabands" because they were not yet officially recognized as being free).  This story is particularly interesting because ...

Columbia's annual Mardi Gras parade will hit the streets on Thursday, Oct. 24, beginning at 7 p.m. The parade floats and walking revelers will embark from Manor Street, continuing along a 1-mile route on Fourth, Union, Locust, and Sixth streets. The theme for the parade, "Cartoon Craziness," will have participants dressing as many beloved animated characters to march through the borough. "We expect any cartoon character you can think of," commented parade organizer Jeff Fortna. MORE HERE: http://news.engleonline.com/AdDesk/Htmlfiles/Readers/article.epc?id=92002

Thank you for your support on last Fourth Friday at Jonal Gallery/Alverta Arts Shop in helping me, U.B. Artist, get my "Masterpieces" started for the  B~I~G Silent Auction. I encourage you come back to bid on my pieces during Columbia's Fourth Friday Event on October 25, to benefit The Columbia Food Bank. But, honestly ... I think I still need your help! With just two weeks remaining until the Benefit Silent Auction, I looked over my unfinished "masterpieces" and frankly I might need just a little more help from my friends. You know, another brush stroke here ... or there, to make each piece complete. Please stop by during normal business hours: Thursdays through Saturdays 10am-5pm, and check them out. I need your artist eye and critical review to assure me each piece is ready for this important Benefit Silent Auction. I just know, without you I can't be ready! With you to help me put the final finishing brush strokes - then to com...

http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/903228_Photos--Open-house-at-Columbia-firehouse--.html