Editor’s note: With another memorable year winding down, the Bulletin chose to reflect on those stories that kept the community talking. Over the next several issues, we’ll present highlights of those stories.

NOVEMBER
• Saluda commissioner candidates faced off Sunday, Oct. 30 in a forum that drew about 50 residents and many questions. Incumbent commissioner candidates John Morgan and Leon Morgan were challenged by Lynn Cass for two open seats.
• Hospice this year commemorates three decades of service in Polk County and the Upstate of South Carolina. In the late 1970s, concerned citizens like Tracy Lamar, David Wells and Jack Allen put efforts in motion to create this new service
• The Polk County Sheriff’s Office and N.C. State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) the week of Nov. 1 busted their second methamphetamine lab in Polk County this year. The lab was discovered in the Green Creek community. Flint Oniel Henderson and Karrie Leigh Kight of Rutherfordton, N.C.
• The Green Race, a kayak race which began in 1996, is held at noon each year on the first Saturday in November, this year being Nov. 5, on .55 miles of the steepest section of the Green River Narrows, which includes numerous Class V rapids.
• Polk County completed construction of an emergency radio tower in Mill Spring. It is part of a communications upgrade agreed upon in 2008 for fire, rescue and law enforcement departments.
• Polls opened Nov. 8 in the towns of Columbus and Tryon and cities of Saluda and Landrum today for municipal elections.
• Landrum voters approved a referendum to allow the sale of alcohol in restaurants on Sundays during municipal elections Nov. 8.
• Polk County’s municipalities had a 19 percent turnout in the municipal elections held Tuesday, Nov. 8, with low turnouts in Columbus and Tryon but almost half of Saluda registered voters casting ballots.
• Just behind the Polk County Courthouse the House of Flags opened its doors to a new museum Friday, Nov. 11.
• The Polk County Appearance Commission hired two local artists, Kathleen Carson and Bill Crowell, to design and produce two containers to help visitors and residents of Saluda sort their trash from their recyclables.
• Gary Kitchen of Outlaw Masonry moved along with repairs to the brickwork encasing Saluda City Hall Tuesday, Nov. 15.
• Tryon Town Council agreed to sell property located near the town’s train depot. Dr. John Hooker, a dentist who currently has an office with Dr. Mark McCall on Pacolet Street, had made an offer of $8,000 for the property.
• Tryon Police Chief Jeff Arrowood met State Bureau of Investigation officers at the Melrose Inn Thursday, Nov. 17 after owner Marilyn Doheny called to say a potential grenade had been found on the back portion of the property, located on Melrose Avenue in Tryon.
• Bloomberg Businessweek Thursday, Nov. 17 named Tryon as the “Best Place To Raise Your Kids in North Carolina.”
• The Polk County Sheriff’s Office and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) busted the third meth lab this year in Polk County on Thursday, Nov. 17.
• Firefighters from all over Polk County and the area, including Columbus, Tryon, Green Creek and Mill Spring, along with the Campobello, Landrum and New Prospect fire departments battle an early morning fire Monday, Nov. 21 at Red Fox Country Club.
• Residents of Ashley Meadows at White Oak told Columbus council members the week of Nov. 14 why they need to be annexed into the town. The development would have to pay town taxes, but residents would gain the lower utility rates and town services, such as police.
• The Polk County Board of Commissioners met Monday, Nov. 21 and unanimously approved the new subdivision ordinance, which replaces the former ordinance and includes new regulations for subdividing land that includes lower lot sizes for major subdivisions.
• The Polk County Board of Commissioners met Monday, Nov. 21 and approved going out to bid on the interconnect of Mill Spring water source to the Town of Columbus after obtaining an engineering estimate of $488,390.
• This year’s Polk County Toy Run, Saturday, Nov. 26, raised $7,225, included 425 motorcycles with 600 riders and collected 17 bags of toys.
• The Columbus Police Department arrested two Greenville, S.C. residents on Saturday, Nov. 26 on charges of possession of LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) and marijuana.

In Memoriam
Mary Sloan Hawkins Ward
Gelylia Garrett
Evelyn A. Bennett
Rose Marie Glass
Ben Summey
Wayne Thompson
Charles M. Lea
Rebecca Sue Potter Neal
Wayne H. Thompson
Charles William Pearson
Margo Myszewski Richards
William ‘Bill’ Edney
James and Ruth Casey
Kerrison ‘Kip’ Merrick
Wilbur Hoyle Epley
Becky Flynn
Bessie Jane Wilson
Elaine Rector Conner
Catherine Coxe Page
Irene L. Logan
Charles Harold Morrow
Dulcie Gordon Pearson