Last Updated on 5/30/2012

Published on 1/19/2012

Quite an interesting time we’re experiencing, isn’t it? We’ve got our routine lives where we’re trying to make a few dollars, deal with tough economic times, raise our kids and grandkids and take part in our charming and picturesque community. And then along comes a Presidential campaign.
Turn on any of the national television newscasts, and if you hear the names Mitt Romney, Rick Perry or Newt Gingrich, you’ll likely hear about Bain Capital and Georgetown Steel. Not to be outdone, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul get their comments in on the debate as well.
Over the past days and weeks leading up to this Saturday’s South Carolina Republican Presidential Preference Primary, much has been made of whether Bain Capital’s ownership of GS Industries was a company making an investment and seeking a good return on its dollars, or was it “vulture capitalism” that led to closures and loss of jobs?
Romney went to Conway in Horry County on Friday, Jan. 6. Perry walked along Front Street in Georgetown last Saturday, Jan. 14, and Gingrich was at Lands End Restaurant on Sunday, Jan. 15. Then all the candidates gathered in nearby Myrtle Beach for the Fox News debate on Monday.
This week, the candidates are visiting around South Carolina to make their case before the voters in advance of the primary on Saturday.
There was to be another debate in Charleston Thursday night, carried on CNN.
So far, the Georgetown Times has been contacted and interviewed by the Financial Times of London, Handelsblatt and Süddeutsche Zeitung of Germany and Sky News of London.
They all want to know about the mill and whether it’s an issue for local folks.
While it is, and local union president James Sanderson has offered his comments on MSNBC and elsewhere, it’s not something that’s an all-consuming topic to the exclusion of everything else.
In the 2004 election, it was the Democrats who came to Georgetown and used the then-closed (post Bain Capital) steel mill as a backdrop for their political campaigns. Howard Dean, Dick Gephardt, John Edwards and Rev. Al Sharpton all made their stops locally.
We trust with all the attention, you’ve decided who you will vote for on Saturday.
But after the votes are cast and the Presidential campaign moves on to other places, we’ll all still be here in Georgetown, Pawleys Island, Murrells Inlet, Andrews and the other communities of Georgetown County.
One of the Washington-based correspondents who visited with the Times said when he drove into Georgetown he was so taken with the beauty of our county and our town. He expected to see a depressed and forlorn community.
Instead, he noted that Georgetown is a pretty little place. The streets are filled with shops and people. It doesn’t look like a town in the face of collapse.
Another recent visitor to the Times noted how beautiful Georgetown County is. She commented that she saw a marked difference as she headed south into the county along U.S. Highway 17. And when her car rose up on the bridges coming into the City of Georgetown, the view took her breath away.
The steel workers, paper mill and other manufacturing and industrial workers are our brothers and sisters, friends and families. We go to the same shops, grocery stores and gas stations. We’re all in the same pews in church and — when it’s warmer — soak up some rays on the beaches.
It’s our town, and our county.
We welcome folks who want to come for a visit, and those who choose to stay.
On Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., the polls will be open throughout Georgetown County and around South Carolina to vote in the Republican Presidential Primary.
Take your ID with you, cast your ballot for the best candidate for the job, and know that next week the campaign will move on but we’ll all still be here — together — enjoying this little bit of Heaven on earth, even with its warts and wrinkles.