South Carolina Universities

Campaigning In South Carolina? Bring Your Appetite

You better bring an appetite if you plan to court votes in South Carolina. And not any namby-pamby taste for sprouts and watercress. We're talking greasy fare, like you might find at The Beacon Drive-In in Spartanburg.

And know what you want when J.C. Stroble, 70, meets you at the counter with his signature "Call it!"

There's no paper or computer here — J.C. takes your order, then hollers instructions to cooks in The Beacon's unique lingo. For instance, a chili-cheeseburger a-plenty means your plate is going to be covered with french fries and onion rings.

The place goes through 300 pounds of chili on a Friday night. Just the kind of crowd a campaign is looking for.

"If you want to be elected for president, you better come to The Beacon," Stroble says with a chuckle.

In more than a half-century of working here, Stroble has served up candidates from John Connally to Richard Nixon to Ross Perot. (And he can tell you what they ordered.) He says Strom Thurmond was a regular, and remembers putting peanuts out on the counter to welcome Jimmy Carter.

Stroble lost his eyesight years ago, but still keeps the line moving, Secret Service or not. He recalls when President George W. Bush stopped by for a cheeseburger a-plenty.

"You'd never know he was the president," Stroble says. "I said 'Give me a cheeseburger with a plenty and move on down that line.' That's the way you do it," Stroble says.

Beacon owner Kenny Church says Stroble is very comfortable with politicians. And politicos are apparently comfortable at The Beacon. Church says both the county Republicans and Democrats hold their monthly meetings here. And recently, the Tea Party had a big event, appropriate for a place that sells 6,000 gallons of tea a week.

"We didn't let them throw any of our tea away," Church says. "We kept it all in the store."

South Carolina's "first in the South" primary has a track record. The state has picked the eventual Republican nominee in every race since Ronald Reagan in 1980.

'Don't Dis The Guns'

The parade of contenders for the Feb. 28 contest has already started, and they'll keep coming, particularly upstate around Spartanburg and Greenville, a region rich in conservatives.

Danielle Vinson, chair of the political science department at Furman University in Greenville has a little advice.

"Don't dis the guns, don't assume that all the religious people think alike. Don't assume that everyone likes Bob Jones," she says.

Tuition rises, but not as fast, at SC universities : News ...

C OLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Students paying for college at South   Carolina's 12 traditional four-year schools are facing lower   tuition increases.

Only two schools - South Carolina State University and Coastal   Carolina University - increased tuition for the fall by more than 4   percent. Last year, every school raised tuition by at least 4.5   percent, with several going significantly higher.

Officials at the universities told  The State  of Columbia that   they   were helped with the decrease in state money given to the   colleges was smaller than expected. Funding decreased by just   5   percent to 8 percent after threats of cuts of up to 25 percent.  

State Sen. Hugh Leatherman applauded the lower tuition   increases. The Florence Republican sought a building   moratorium   last year for colleges he thought increased tuition   too steeply.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

A history of the University of South Carolina, 1940-2000

A history of the University of South Carolina

University of South Carolina, a portrait

South Carolina State University

The work of the university in America, an address before the South Carolina College on Commencement Day, June 25th, 1884,