During Tuesday night’s special called meeting of the Oconee County Council, we saw something that, to be honest, we haven’t seen in some time in Oconee County.

This is a special week every year for sports fans as March Madness gets set to tip off around the country.

Perhaps the even better question may be: What’s the rush?

Most of you who read The Journal know that we’re often pretty tough on the Oconee County Council and other county officials from time to time. Particularly when tax dollars are at stake.

There’s an old saying that you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. But you can stop squeezing to prevent a bigger mess.

Gov. Henry McMaster has said that increasing South Carolina’s gas tax to fix its deteriorating roads is “the absolute last resort, only when we are in desperate straits.”

We’ve all got that one relative, don’t we?

We tried to paint a picture for you in this spot a few days ago with an editorial titled “Pain is coming” that several things in motion on the state and local levels are going to end up hitting us all where it hurts — in the pocketbooks.

In Tuesday’s edition of The Journal, we took a pretty hard stance against legislation on the House floor that would move business licensing from the cities and their municipal association up to the state level.

In a climate that’s given rise to terms like fake news and alternative facts, never has the public’s right to know how governmental bodies are functioning been more important.

In Thursday’s edition of The Journal, you read where the chairman of the planned agricultural center or FARM Center board, Stanley Gibson, went before an Oconee County Council committee Tuesday to request council consider designating millage to help the FARM Center both during construction and after for general operations.

You often hear it said some schools are “football schools” or “basketball schools.” If it weren’t the case already, West-Oak High School proved this weekend it has few equals when it comes to wrestling schools.

Friday nights in the fall are for high school football. With that sentiment, we couldn’t agree more.

Pointing out the names of the men whom the award was named for, Johnson Link said it was an honor to receive the Abernathy-Cox One Clemson Award at this week’s annual State of Clemson program.