•Saluda County firemen got the air packs paid for through a $420,000 grant.

  •Paul DeLoache was recognized for 60 years of service to the Saluda Lions Club.

  •Piedmont Technical College broke ground on the new Saluda County campus on the Batesburg Highway.

We said "good-bye" to....

  •Mary Wheeler, retired educator, on Aug. 23 at the age of 88.

  •Johnny Springs, star basketball player on Saluda High’s two state championship basketball teams of the late 1970’s, on Aug. 17 at the age of 49.

  •Ralph Lake, retired Saluda business owner and county employee, on Aug. 27 at the age of 86.

SEPTEMBER

  •County Council approved tax millage for 2008-2009. The District One millage was set at 149.9, and the county millage at 145.6.

  •A giant Navy helicopter made a precautionary emergency landing at the Saluda County Airport. The chopper was returning to Norfolk, Va., from Florida, where it was sent in advance of Hurricane Gustav.

  •The Saluda Police investigated two shooting incidents. In one incident, Ervin Ouzts was arrested and charged with assault and battery with intent to kill, resisting arrest with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm within city incidents. In the second incident, a victim was shot in the chest in a robbery attempt and airlifted to the Medical College of Georgia. The suspect, described as a black male, was not apprehended.

  •A Saluda County man, Tracey Wood, requested swift action by the county after his pet dog was killed by his neighbor’s pit bull.

  •Sheriff Jason Booth refuted rumors that he had been arrested for DUI and Criminal Domestic Violence. Booth said the rumors may have been politically motivated.

  •Amy Mitchell of Saluda Elementary School was named the District One Teacher of the Year. Other school teachers of the year were: Kristie Shelly, Saluda Middle School; Brenda Eidson, Hollywood Elementary; Amanda Nichols, Saluda High School; and Shanna Matthews, Saluda Primary.

  •A Saluda man, Bennie Lee Burton, 53, died in a one-car accident on a section of Bonham Rd. known as "Dead Man’s Curve."

  •A presentation by Marti Coleman and Harriet Householder earned the "Rookie of the Year" Award from the S.C. Motor Coach Association. The presentation highlighted potential bus tours throughout Saluda County, and was done on behalf of the Saluda County Chamber of Commerce’s Tourism Committee.

  •Saluda County was funded the purchase of a mobile generator with integrated light tower by the Department of Homeland Security. The generator will be used by Saluda County emergency response agencies.

  •Brad Forrest was named Saluda County’s Economic Development Ambassador.

  •Saluda native Ashley Riley Bouknight was a finalist for Lexington District Three Teacher of the Year.

  •Jason Price and his sons Hunter and Colton killed a near record sized alligator during S.C.’s alligator hunting season. The 13-ft. 4 inch long gator was killed on the Congaree River and weighted 780-lbs.

We said "good-bye" to....

  •Tracy Salter of Ward, owner of Salter Insurance Agency, on Sept. 28 at the age of 84.

OCTOBER

  •The Sheriff’s Office made four drug arrests with cooperation with Edgefield, McCormick and Saluda Task Force.

  •The Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board met with Robert Cleverdon with Tourism Development International in Saluda County.

  •Tracey Wood requested County Council take action on the county’s animal control problem. Council, after hearing from others concerned about the problem, voted to have County Director Sandra Padget check with neighboring counties to see of any of them would accept animals from Saluda County.

  •Sheriff Jason Booth’s annual Youth Day was a big success.

  •Saluda County was awarded a $197,000 Weather Service Warning grant.

  •The Sheriff’s Office made arrests on recent home burglaries.

  •The Saluda County Chamber of Commerce, Saluda Lions Club and American Legion Post 65 hosted a candidate forum at the Saluda Elementary School Library.

  •Saluda County Extension Agent Phillip R. Perry was inducted into the S.C. Dairy Hall of Fame at Clemson University.

  •Ridge Spring hosted the Harvest Festival a day after a sudden windstorm struck the county. Ridge Spring fireman, with assistance from other departments in the county, were forced to fight a house fire during the wind gusts.

  •A Saluda County couple, Renata Hill and Kendall Abney, was charged with neglect in the death of their 15-month-old child in 2004.

We said "good-bye" to....

  •Lucy Coleman, longtime owner of Lucy’s Shoes in Saluda and widow of former Saluda Mayor and County Council Chairman Alfred Coleman, on Oct. 9 at the age of 84.

  •Wayne Fox, well known interior designer in the area, on Oct. 15 at the age of 52.

  •David Baird, who earlier in the year celebrated the 69th anniversary of his wedding with his wife Odette, on Oct. 25 at the age of 88.

NOVEMBER

  •The 13th Annual Antique Fall Festival/Tractor/Engine Show and Pull was held at Richland Creek Farms,

  •Alex Robinson became the first Saluda High football player since Jonathan Brooks in 1974 to be selected to play in the S.C.-N.C. Shrine Bowl.

  •Sheriff Jason Booth, County Councilman William Pugh and Rep. Marion Frye won re-election in the General Election. In the other Saluda County races Tina Shealy was elected Saluda County Treasurer and Kevin Yon was elected to the Soil and Water Commission.

  •A 13-year-old Saluda Middle School student Mecosha Pugh died in a house fire on Nov. 7. Her grandmother Lizzie Etheredge, 64, died a week later of injuries she received in the fire.

  •George "Brud" Wheeler was selected to join fellow WWII veterans on the inaugural Honor Flight to visit the WWII Memorial in Washington on Nov. 15.

  •The County Water and Sewer Authority asked the county to join them in financial support of water and sewer projects in the county.

  •Saluda High teacher and coach Jeanette Ergle Wilder was elected to the Newberry College Athletic Hall of Fame.

  •W.M. Gentry Jr. was named the Saluda County Farm-City Citizen of the Year.

  •The National Heritage Corridor Committee toured Saluda County.

  •Saluda native Madeline Herlong published her first novel The Great, Wide Sea.

  •Darren Carter was one of five auctioneers selected to compete for the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship on June 13, 2009.

We said "good-bye" to....

  •Rev. William "Bill" Boyd, author and former pastor of Red Bank Baptist Church, on Nov. 12 in Indian Trail, N.C., at the age of 81.

  •Mrs. Arzula Williams, one of Saluda County’s oldest citizens, on Nov. 22 at the age of 105.

  •Robert Kanning, who worked part-time for Saluda Standard-Sentinel until he was 91-years-old, on Nov. 24 at the age of 92.

  •Shaw Rushton, Saluda County Forestry Commission Ranger for 33 years, on Nov. 26 at the age of 86.

DECEMBER

  •Dr. Bela Herlong and her family hosted a dramatic presentation and book signing for Padgett’s My Name, the memoir of her father Davenport Padgett. Her daughter, Madeline Herlong, also signed copies of her new book The Great, Wide Sea.

  •Harold Copeland, commander of Saluda VFW Post 6561, was named an All-American Commander.

  •A Ridge Spring woman, Rosa B. Reed, 53, became Saluda County’s seventh highway fatality when she died in a one-car accident near Yon Farms.

  •Saluda County Council passed a road ordinance amendment, but at the last reading, changed the wording that the county would only accept paved roads into the county system in new housing developments.

  •A meeting was held encouraging Saluda County to implement the "Road Home" program, designed to assist soldiers returning from war and their families.

  •Saluda author Alicia Cole-man held book signings for her new book, Mastering a Manipulator.

  •Saluda County Farm Bureau Senior Talent Winners, Chelsea Nichols and Andrew Mills, won the state talent competition in Myrtle Beach.

We said "good-bye" to....

  •Bernard Black, a member of Saluda American Legion Post 65, who served as S.C. American Legion Commander and Adjutant, and National American Legion Vice Commander, on Dec,. 1 at the age of 76.

  •Betty Wheeler, Saluda Coun-ty beautification, garden club and civic leader, on Dec. 10 at the age of 85.