My wife, Stephanie, and I had a blast this past weekend in the teeny-little-town-of-Ridgeway... at the biggest, best BBQ small-town festival in the state of South Carolina!

South Carolina’s budget forecasters may have good news in store this week, just ahead of lawmakers’ return to Columbia in January. The good news could impact a range of South Carolinia citizens, from K-12 teachers to inmates and guards in S.C. prisons.

When South Carolina’s 170 lawmakers return to the State House next year, they likely could see at least $1 billion more in new money to spend, an amount that could exceed what economists estimated last year--which is on top of a $350 million surplus the state’s Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom reported in August.

As is appropriate for this week's newspaper, we honor Deacon Thomas Gibson as a veteran for his service in the United States Army. While serving, he specialized in the welding and home improvement capacities.

Deacon Thomas Gibson was born on November 19, 1918. He was born in Ridgeway, South Carolina, has four siblings, seven sons, seven grandchildren, and is a member of Mount Pisgah Baptist Church where he attends Sunday School and sings with the choir every Sunday.

What we now know as Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919--the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and November 11th became a national holiday beginning in 1938. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower officially changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day.