This summary provides the key details from the short story in 3 sentences: Rodger Winn, a 52-year-old gardener, notices that his roses and azaleas are blooming at the same time in the unusual warm spring, which has caused plants to bloom a month early. Winn is still cautious about the early warm weather, remembering a hard freeze at Easter several years ago. The story describes Winn working in his garden beds while lilacs and tulips are blooming and bluebirds are nesting, showing signs that spring has arrived much sooner than typical.

1. SHORT STORY
Daily Over 50,000 Division
A SEASON FOR EARLY BLOOMERS
FIRST PLACE:
The State
Dawn Hinshaw
PHOTOGRAPHS BY TIM DOMINICK/TDOMINICK@THESTATE.COM
GARDENS SPRING
INTO ACTION
By DAWN HINSHAW ONLINE:
dhinshaw@thestate.com View photos for the spring season at
thestate.com
R
odger Winn sees blooms just
beyond his porch railing that
are proof of a capricious place, looking to buy tomato plants.
spring. They leave empty-handed. “I don’t quite
“I’ve never had roses and azaleas have any ready,” he said.
blooming at the same time,” said Winn, Winn has not fully succumbed to the
who was outside at sunrise late last lure of these 80-degree days, remember-
week to clean out and fertilize the flower ing a hard freeze at Easter four or five
beds that encircle his farmhouse in Lit- years back.
tle Mountain. “I’m still a little leery,” he said, squint- Rodger Winn works for SCE&G
Spring arrived a month early. ing in the sun, mud on his work boots. but in his off time, he is an
Lilacs and tulips are blooming. Winn, 52, has spent the past 15 years accomplished gardener. Winn
Bluebirds are nesting. enjoys the morning sun, above …
And folks are dropping by Winn’s SEE GARDEN PAGE A8 and so does his rooster.

2. COLUMN WRITING
Daily Under 20,000 Division
THIRD PLACE:
The Beaufort Gazette
Patrick Donohue

3. COLUMN WRITING
Daily Under 20,000 Division
Techy Ten: Online tools for the new school year
BY STACEY MOSIER help keep everything ferently, and all features are entirely 9. Grades 2
smosier@aikenstandard.com synced between all free. Viewing tasks by due date is a http://www.gradesapp.com/
devices, and offers great way to keep up with what’s due “What do I need to score on my next
School begins later this month, and collaboration solu- for the upcoming week. test to be on track for an A? There’s an
high-schoolers and college students tions for team proj- app for that.” Keep
SECOND PLACE: alike will begin cramming for exams
and making outlines for research
papers as the days get shorter. Check
out this list of 10 online tools to im-
prove study habits and perhaps spend
less money on paper this year.
ects. Collect sites,
screenshots, images,
audio and more to organize every-
thing with just one tool.
http://quizlet.com
https://www.dropbox.com
Gone are the days where we can
claim we left things
on a home computer
or didn’t bring in a
thumb drive. Drop-
box is a free cloud
track of quizzes,
tests, extra credit and
upcoming projects to
have a clear idea of
how you are perform-
ing in your classes.
This GPA tracker does all the math for
1. Study Blue: Make. Find. Study. cards by topic, and take quizzes to storage solution to you – just not the math your Algebra II
Aiken Standard http://www.studyblue.com
More than one million students
are already taking advantage of this
multi-platform well-
designed tool. With
Study Blue you can
learn the terms. The
site asks you to re-
don’t answer cor-
rectly, which helps
save all school docu- teacher will expect you to master.
ments so that they are accessible from
type any answer you any computer or mobile device. If
your home printer is out of ink or
your paper falls in a puddle on the
you to recall the term way to class, having access to your
at a later time. Col-
endar
If you have a Gmail account that
you use on a daily basis, take advan-
tage of Google Drive, Docs and Cal-
endar to have easy
-
lections are available for languages, still print it out when you make it to
Stacey Mosier them either online or geography, biology, history and other school.
on your smartphone. topics. If you’re taking on a new
Take a quiz of your notes to see your language this semester, Quizlet is for
weak areas, or email your notes to a
friend who missed the class. Extra
features are available at a monthly
price.
you.
Available for iOS at http://bit.ly/
ScuLed
http://dictionary.reference.com/apps
Never second-guess a word you’ve
quickly by having
a dictionary app
and keep up with
due dates. Google
offers tools for many
needs, so you don’t
have to keep up with
several other apps to get the job done.
Once you’re logged into your Gmail
Browse 50,000 free works of litera- installed on your account, visit drive.google.com, docs.
Techy Ten: Internet buzzwords to know brain ture available from Project Gutenberg
and Feedbooks. Be-
smartphone or tablet. google.com and calendar.google.com
to begin organizing your digital life.
BY STACEY MOSIER 4. YOLO and is still going strong. To Rick Roll This is a perfect tool to create fore you buy a paper- “word of the day” to
smosier@aikenstandard.com Here we have a popular hashtag and someone is to link to the 1987 Rick outlines for research papers and to back copy, look for grow your vocabu- Stacey Mosier is the web content
meme that you may have heard if you Astley song “Never Gonna Give You keep the information a free digital version lary daily to impress your English manager for the Aiken Standard and
What do you do when someone listen to today’s hot music, and it may Up” music video, and it happens when
uses a word you’ve never heard be- be the most overused word this year. least expected. It’s a way to disrupt a stored online. The with this app. Any teacher. joined the staff in early 2011.
fore? Do you play along as though It means “You only live once” and serious or boring topic or only to just website is optimized previously down-
you understand, but as the person
walks away, you quickly search for
the word online?
mostly serves as a motivator to try
new things in life, but it is used also
as an excuse for criminal or childish
catch you someone guard. The link is
often masked by using link shortener
services like TinyURL or BitLy.
for smartphones and
tablets, so just visit
loaded eBooks of
other formats can be added to Stanza Techy Ten: Get the most out of your iPhones
Healthy Living
Anagrams, slang and hashtags
used on the Internet or in text
conversations aren’t always easy
behavior. Are you ready to go skydiv-
ing? #yolo. Stacey Mosier is the web content
manager for the Aiken Standard and
the site in any brows- to keep everything in one digital
er. You can also use library. Tasty and healthy
BY STACEY MOSIER autobrightness your phone - perhaps in a black hole Remember multitasking
5. Troll, Trolling it to take notes during class, make 6. Wunderlist smosier@aikenstandard.com control the in your car or you left it at a friend’s The only button on the front face of
joined the staff in early 2011. She
thankfully online slang dictionar- When a person harasses an online graduated from USC Aiken in 2010 to-do lists and to organize any other http://www.wunderlist.com brightness of house - you will be able to visit your phone - that’s called the home
ies are here to help us keep up with user, either in a serious or joking man- with a Bachelor of Arts in visual arts. projects during the school year. Make master to-do lists, set due There are some improvements your screen. iCloud.com and locate your phone button. Click the home button twice
coming later this week to the
Antioxidant count If you have on a map, but only if it is powered on and a row of apps will appear at the
the trendy web world. ner, by taking part in a thread solely 3. Evernote: Remember every- dates for tasks, keep a digital cal- iPhone with the release of the iOS your screen and has location services enabled. bottom of your screen.
to disrupt the conversation or to get a PHOTO COURTESY OF
endar and more
1. Meme reaction out of the trollee. Trevor only THISISPHOTOBOMB.MEMEBASE.COM 6 software upgrade, but let’s not at 100 percent Other tasks possible at iCloud.com These apps are all “open,” and are
The word is French for “same,” signs into YouTube to troll other com- http://evernote.com all within this one forget about the small things that brightness all include forcing your phone to play using background services or possi-
and if you use Facebook or Twitter, menters. Evernote has won several awards, well-designed tool the past few iPhones can do to the time, your a steady noise, wipe your personal
1,100 mg
then you most likely have seen one.
6. Photobomb Mosquitoes and West Nile virus including The New York Time’s “10
Must Have Apps,” and Apple’s “App
for all platforms. It’s
much like Evernote
makes our lives easier. If you
have an iPhone, follow these 10
battery drains at information, or set a passcode so that
a faster rate than others cannot unlock it from the lock
on one until they wiggle, and press
the X to close them.
behavior or style that spreads from This is when something or someone tips and learn more about them necessary. Your screen. Remember to close apps often, es-
person to person within a culture, in the background of an image or Hall of Fame” lists. This tool that can but styled quite dif- 600 mg
by visiting www.apple.com/ phone has sensors pecially before restarting the phone.
and the word is now used in the web video clip takes the focus away from iphone/tips. that can detect
world to describe images or video the main subject. Visit http://thisispho- Transmitted only by insect bite Virus causes infection light and decide Set up text shortcuts
clips, often sarcastic or silly, that are tobomb.memebase.com/ for examples. Lock screen orientations
1 the level of bright- Set up shortcuts to save time from
and again. Visit memebase.com for 7. Meatloaf Copy/Paste Pictures ness you need. To typing the same phrases again and Since the screen changes on rota-
examples. trick the setting, again. tion, sometimes the phone will not
family that seems too much like spam. quite simple and yet not ob- cover the sensors Type a few characters and your stay in the orientation that you need
2. The Cloud - vious. You can copy an image simply near the front camera iPhone can replace the text with a it to.
The imaginary place referred to ly deal, asking you to join a website or 2 before you press the power button to longer, more descriptive phrase. A Set an orientation lock so that no
when storing data, such as images, for a text-bubble command “Copy” turn on your phone. The phone will default text shortcut, “omw,” changes matter how you hold the phone, the
documents and video, in an online to appear. Touch the word “Copy” think it’s in a dark room. text to read “On my way!” (which screen will be locked vertically or
storage service so that the content is 8. Viral 3 to save the picture to your clipboard. you can edit to remove the “!” in the horizontally. Double click your home
available from any device with an When online content is shared via Return to an email in progress or a times you don’t want to seem so ex- button, and slide the screen to the
Internet connection. Since Karen email and social networks that the - Grouped Apps cited.) Set up your own shortcuts for right.
uploaded her resume to the cloud, popularity grows exponentially in ger in the input area until the “Paste” To rearrange, delete or group your other things such as email addresses A control bar will appear for your
a very short period of time. When a 4
smartphone and mail it a potential Youtube video gets several million option appears. - (try “eml”), business acronyms or iTunes library and a button will be
employer. hits within a few days because of the ger on any app icon until it begins to other phrases such as “oot” for “Out available to lock your screen orienta-
amount of people sharing the link with wiggle. Pick up an app and drag it of town” or “gc” for “Go, Cocks!” tion.
3. Hashtag their friends, it has “gone viral.”
Severe cases, deaths Screenshots as notes on top of another app to group them
Although the term hashtag was There’s a way to capture the screen together. Useful apps, such as the
around before Twitter, it’s now a 9. Pwned and n00b of your iPhone, called a screenshot, - Use the search for emails, Emoji keyboard
common word, thanks - which will be stored as an image in culator or whatever you may use on a conversations Customize your default keyboard
# to the social network.
A hashtag is a string of
characters with a “hash”
or “pound” symbol before
it and is used to connect
tweets of the same topic. Unique
hashtags can be a very success-
ful way to keep up with people all
one has been “owned,” and that hap-
pens after someone is proven wrong
or has been outperformed. The second
word is a way to say “newbie” in a
joking or demeaning manner about
a person who is a beginner or isn’t as
skilled at something.
Symptoms great song on Pandora, take a screen-
shot to remember the band. When
you get important information in a
text message, take a screenshot and
rest assured you will have it even if
the message is deleted.
daily basis, can be grouped together
and dropped onto your dock for im-
mediate access.
Find my iPhone
If you have an iPhone and you
Slide your screens to the left until
you land on the Search screen. Ac-
settings, you will be able to search for
keywords for names of apps, recent
emails, text message conversations,
by adding a package of emoticons.
Go to your settings, and under “Gen-
Add a keyboard, select “Internation-
al” and select the “Emoji” keyboard.
A globe icon will be available when
you text to add emoticons to your
around the world who are sharing 10. Rick Rolled haven’t heard about this service, events and a few other types. Search conversations.
thoughts and experiences. @aiken- This is a viral meme that can be used you may want to look into it. Use for a contact’s name and see different
standard tweeted: It’s a great day in to troll someone – are you staying Autobrightness your Apple ID to activate an iCloud instances of conversations with the Stacey Mosier is a web developer
South Carolina! #sctweets. with me? – that took off in early 2008 Extend the battery life by letting account at ICloud.com. If you lose person. and graduated from USC Aiken.

4. COLUMN WRITING
Daily Under 20,000 Division
TEACHING
FIRST PLACE: heart
h
The Island Packet
Amy Coyne Bredeson
Charlotte’s
SECRET:
I W

5. COLUMN WRITING
Daily 20,000 - 50,000 Division
THIRD PLACE: Gardener Steve Willis recently showed columnist Linda
Cobb around his property. From left, yellow cane
dogwood, an ornamental frog and a sewing machine are
used to decorate his garden, which peaks in the fall.
Herald-Journal Steve Willis’ garden is a rewarding reminder
that growing things outside is a year-round job
Winter grows on you
Linda Cobb
S
ometimes I save the best shrub bed nest.
As a child, Willis was used to plants,
for last when I write this as his father was a gardener, but more
of a farmer. He set up house on one acre
column. You have to be a of land. When his dad died, Willis inher-
ited three more acres. The Willis land is
true horticulturalist to let flanked on both sides by fellow horticul-
turalists, a real bonus.
me photograph and write about the gar- “They are both lovers of nature, and
I get to count that land as part of my
den in winter. view,” Willis said. “It enhances the gar-
den so much. Many of the trees on my
This is the story property were given to me by my friend
of an excellent Dr. John Simmons.”
plantsman, a lover One can see that it’s a good thing Wil-
of nature and the lis doesn’t own all the land, as he would
garden he created surely try to plant it all.
over the past 40 When Willis worked on the grounds
years. crew at Converse College, his interest in
As you drive up horticulture grew. He eventually gave
to the entrance of up that job and enrolled in the horticul-
the garden of Steve ture program at Spartanburg Commu-
Linda Cobb Willis and Wayne nity College.
Brown, you are Upon completing the program, he got
Garden Cameos greeted by a stand a four-year degree with an emphasis
of silver Arizona on early childhood development. He
cypress. It lets you At top, Willis, who shares his garden with taught at the University of South Caro-
know you have arrived at a plant para- Wayne Brown, worked on the grounds crew at lina Upstate’s Lab School. From there
dise that is years in the making. Converse College, then learned horticulture at he went to the McCarthy Teszler School
Your mind races as you look at all the Spartanburg Community College and taught and taught while he got his masters in
winter interest going on in this garden. horticulture at McCarthy Teszler School before special education.
What must it be like in its peak season retiring in 2007. When the horticulture teaching posi-
of fall? The Willis garden is living proof tion there came open, he took it and ran
that gardening happens 12 months out of dogwood punctuated by a backdrop of with it. It fit him perfectly. He taught
the year. an evergreen, I see the house that Willis
As I pass the stand of yellow cane built in 1970 resting in an ornamental ◆ SEE GARDEN PAGE D2
Photos by GERRY PATE / GERRY.PATE@SHJ.COM

6. COLUMN WRITING
Daily 20,000 - 50,000 Division
Catawba
chief to
lead with
SECOND PLACE: purpose
CATAWBA INDIAN NATION — Bill Harris
The Herald
stood in the center of the Round House, looking
at the circle’s empty seats, envisioning them
filled with his fellow Catawba Indians.
Nothing, he said, can prepare you to be chief
of the Catawba Indian Nation.
Nothing he learned at Rock Hill High School –
from which he graduated in 1972 – prepared
him for the job, he said.
While his grandfather, Douglas Harris, was
Don Worthington
chief when he was a baby, Harris said, he never
dreamed of being chief.
If anything, he said, it was
the lessons learned from his
grandmother, acclaimed mas-
ter Catawba potter Georgia
Harris, that helped prepare
him to lead a nation.
After high school, Harris
studied the centuries-old ways
of making pottery with his
Don grandmother. He came to turn
Worthington Catawba riverbank mud into
stunning works of art. His
Business Editor grandmother, however, had a
captive audience.
As he worked the clay, she spoon-fed him the
history of the Catawbas. She talked about the
people, about the heritage, about what it meant
to be a Catawba.
“My grandmother was a proud woman,”
Harris said. “She showed me how proud a peo-
ple we were. It gave me a center of what it’s like
to be a Catawba.”
Standing in the center of the Round House on
Aug. 1 as he was sworn in to a four-year term as
an elected chief, Harris said he was frightened,
humbled and vastly overwhelmed by his new
‘Part of the magic of Christmas’
job.
“Standing in the center of the Round House,
Rock Hill Galleria’s
you feel almost naked,” he said. “All you have is
your wit – if you have wit.” Santa Claus shares
Later at his first tribal council meeting, Harris
paused before the five-member executive coun- his favorite duties
cil went about the nation’s business.
He looked around the room and saw friends. The question made Santa Claus cry.
He also saw those who once had him arrested As he wiped away tears of joy, Santa Claus
reflected on what he likes best about his job.
and led off in handcuffs for trespassing because He didn’t talk about toys or flying around the
he and other Catawbas disputed how the execu-
Inviting visitors south reminds us why S.C. is special
world on a sleigh led by Rudolph. Nor did he
tive council was governing. mention sampling the milk and cookies left for
Harris asked members of the former execu- him.
He confided that children are often intimidat-
See WORTHINGTON ● 8A ed to talk to him. Using a few tricks of the trade,
Santa puts them at ease. Then comes the best
part of the job: The moment
when a child smiles – and
After several months of waiting, our As guests travel between Rock Hill and Santa smiles in return.
Maci Conty, a 4-year-old
guests for the Democratic National Con- INSIDE Charlotte early in the morning and late at from Rock Hill, had just
shared her list – and love –
vention are arriving, and we’re putting on night, they won’t be impressed. The stretch with Santa. The result was a
big hug and smile. It’s a scene
our best efforts to welcome them, assist ■ Business this week ● 3A of I-77 from here to Charlotte looks like Don
repeated and repeated.
“It’s joy and love magnified
them and, hopefully, convince them to Anywhere USA with too many signs beck- Worthington and reflected. It’s intoxicat-
ing,” Santa said from his
come back. Don Worthington When our guests depart for home on oning travelers to stop for gas and fast Business Editor temporary home at the Galle-
ria in Rock Hill.
Members of the media, security person- Friday, there will be a “Peach Stop” at the food. With economic times tight, some children
nel and just-interested folks have filled Business Editor South Carolina Welcome Center on In- Two things, however, stand out. Yes,
who visit Santa in his stops around the world are
aware of the struggles dad and mom are having
to make ends meet, according to The Associated
York County’s hotels. Out of the 17,960 terstate 77 from 9 a.m. to noon. While that’s a water tank painted like a baseball, Press. Their wish lists are shorter and sometimes
they are asking for help for their parents.
available reservations this week, 17,191 tumes from Brattonsville, the cast at Narro- peaches will be the complimentary “fruit of but more importantly, it’s an award-win- In Rock Hill, Santa said, some of the lists are
shorter, but mostly “kids are still kids.”
were booked, an estimated economic Way Productions near Fort Mill and Cataw- the morning,” there will also be cookies, ning water tank painted like a baseball. The youngest ask for toys or say, “surprise
me,” said Santa. Older children offer more
impact of $2.6 million – a figure local ba Indians will visit nine hotels from coffee, bananas and tea – sweet tea of It also marks the home of the Charlotte specific wants.
Yet one young girl stole Santa’s heart this
tourism officials caution is conservative. 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Tuesday and course. Visitors will receive a recipe for Knights, who have played south of the year at the Galleria when she arrived with her
list – six pages of carefully cut out pictures of
To help our visitors better understand Wednesday to greet those departing for the peach corn muffins, compliments of local what she wanted underneath the Christmas
tree. Santa rolled out the list and held it next to
who we are, interpreters in historic cos- convention. author Dori Sanders. See WORTHINGTON ● 3A MELISSA CHERRY - mcherry@heraldonline.com
Santa plays the harmonica for a child at the Rock Hill Galleria. See WORTHINGTON ● 10A

7. COLUMN WRITING
Daily 20,000 - 50,000 Division
heraldonline.com SUNDAY December 18, 2
Sounds like
DNC snubs Hoping
for a
‘the end of
the world’
FIRST PLACE: Rock Hill’s holiday The beeping alerts and the
weatherman on the TV told Ty
miracle McCollum just after 5 p.m.
The Herald civil rights
Wednesday that a storm was
coming to his area, southwest of
Rock Hill.
Sometimes, Elizabeth Perdue,
25, with two kids ages 5 and 3, So he went out into the yard to
cries to herself on the little couch look at the sky.
pioneers
in the tiny living room of the “And that’s
Andrew Dys
small single-wide mobile home
on a gravel road. when I saw it,
It is December, Christmas is the tornado,
looming in a week, and Perdue coming right at
doesn’t have two nickels to rub
together to buy presents – or just me,” said
about anything else. McCollum, 39.
Her boyfriend and father of the “It stretched
No invitation came in the mail or by phone or e-mail. kids, William McManus, 23, is a
house painter when there is down from the
Nobody sent a limousine for these men to travel just work. Her brother, 21-year-old sky.”
minutes to the Democratic National Convention in Char- Benjamin, is unemployed and on Andrew
By that time,
lotte, where countless times so many talked of justice and parole from a felony conviction. Dys it was too late
William
equality in America. McManus’s Columnist to get his father,
Yet those who went to jail for those sister, Kristian,
21, is Benja-
Marvin, next-
rights, only a few miles from where a min’s girlfriend door on Skyline Road, and his
president and so many others took and is eight mother, Elaine, just home from
months preg-
bows, didn’t even get a mention. nant. Yet Kris- dialysis treatments, to safety.
The Friendship Nine was forgotten. tian still makes “The thing was coming right at
it to work at us, across the field it was rush-
“I guess they didn’t think about us,” Andrew
Ryan’s restau-
said Willie McCleod, one of the Nine Dys rant each day to ing,” McCollum said. “It got to
from that included eight students from Columnist bake bread and maybe a hundred yards from me
rolls. straight across (S.C. 324) and I
Rock Hill’s Friendship Junior College, Among the four adults living in
who each served 30 days in jail in 1961 this rented mobile home that was ran inside. So I grabbed Momma,
Andrew secured for the first month by a and some blankets, and I put her
after being convicted of for sitting down
Dys at an all-white lunch counter.
title loan from Kristian’s old car,
they lost three parents to death
in the bathtub and put the blan-
this year. kets on top of her and told her to
Columnist Their “Jail, No Bail” strategy of fight- One to gunshots in April, one hold on for her life.
ing segregation by staying in behind bars to natural death in late Septem- “Loud? You never heard noise
re-energized the civil rights movement across the country ber, and another natural death
just 30 hours later. like this. Thunder doesn’t cover
and led to the end of segregation in the South. “This year, it just was terrible,” this sound. The sound was what
But nobody said anything about them all week. said Elizabeth Perdue. they tell you the sounds in the
William McManus put it even
McCleod spent his week digging septic tanks, the way he more bluntly: “This year was Bible are like – the end of the
has made his living for decades, while thousands of people heartbreak after heartbreak. world sound.”
Death just came and came.” The wind roared and trees
who never marched anywhere but out for a big lunch pat- These are two connected fami-
ted each other on the back and talked about justice and lies for whom poverty, real pover- from somewhere smashed
equality and America. ty, has been a part of their exis- through the roof and the walls
tence for so long. They do not
Willie McCleod was snubbed. claim to be victims, though. They
shook and glass broke and
The country’s first black president, asking for a second are just one thing. McCollum held his mother until it
term, was close enough at his Ballantyne hotel just across
“Broke,” said William was over.
McManus.
He yelled through the noise
the border to reach out and hug McCleod, but he did not. On April 30, Katherine
McManus, 43, on probation, the that nothing would hurt her if he
If it wasn’t for the Friendship Nine, President Barack mother of William and Kristian
See DYS ● 4A
See SURVIVOR ● 4A
See DYS ● 8A