Lellie Ward posted to her blog, "Adventures in Paradise," this past Sunday that she had been ousted as Joint Master of the Aiken Hounds and banned from hunting with the Aiken Hounds. She is unaware why this has occurred.

It's been nearly five months since the Aiken City Council eliminated downtown parking restrictions and reception to the situation continues to be mixed. The Aiken Downtown Development Association maintains that the John Edwards study was good and that there should be some type of restriction. Some downtown business employees state that they can't really see a difference between when the restrictions were in effect and now. The Metro Spirit writer states, "While downtown streets have continued to be busy, the amount of shoppers and lunch-goers did not significantly increase or decrease following the change," but offers no data or metric to support this statement.

The Aiken County Public Library is conducting a silent auction on two card catalogs. Bidding opened at $25 and will run through July 27th, 2010. Bids must be placed at the library building. There's a little over a week left!

BAE Systems was awarded a contract for the production of 30 Army M88A2 heavy equipment recovery combat utility lift and evacuation system recovery vehicles, four sets of authorized stock list spares and three spare engines. 1.5% of the work will be completed at the Aiken, SC facility.

Citing non-profitability, SuperPetz will close the store at 1589 Whiskey Road this Fall. Merchandise liquidation begins this week.

A report released by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Board shows that SRS needs better preparation for natural disaster response. The report shows that the number of natural disaster drills at the site have been declining.

Instances of criminal activity have been increasing during the past several weeks around Aiken County. Law enforcement officers throughout the county work hard to solve crimes; however, preventing a crime from happening is the best option for everyone. Deputies with the Aiken County Sheriff's Office state that forming a Neighborhood Watch can prevent robberies and other criminal activity from occurring in your area.

The Aiken County Robotics M’Aiken Magic Team 1102 arrived in Clemson, South Carolina on Thursday morning March 25, 2010. The team faced this competition with a spirit of enthusiasm and confidence, although they had no way of knowing then that they would have such an exhilarating experience over the days to come.

Team 1102 spent the day Thursday making changes to the robot and practicing for the competition. The members had observed things in other robots at Orlando that they thought would work well for them. In the week prior to going to Clemson, team members worked to build all of the parts necessary for the changes they wanted to make, the most drastic change being a new kicking mechanism. After arriving Thursday, the changing of parts went very quickly and smoothly. The team was immediately able to jump into practice matches for the remainder of the day.

Friday morning brought the beginning of the Qualification matches. Team 1102’s practice paid off! The robot had quite a presence on the field, proving to be one of the best defensive robots at the competition. Even the highest scoring robots had met their match when battling Team 1102’s robot, with its quick-movements and its ability to stand its ground when pushed. Team 1102 pushed through the beginning of the day with three fantastic matches! The end of the day was a little frustrating, with a couple of hardware malfunctions. However, by the end of the Qualification matches at noon on Saturday, Team 1102 had made its impression as a great defensive ally, and the robot made its way into the finals.

Team 1102 had two alliance partners heading into the finals. The alliance captain was Team 1772, the Trail Blazers, from Brazil. This team’s robot had amazing maneuvering capabilities and an almost unbelievable knack for aiming and scoring. The other alliance partner was Team 2751, Team Spark, from Pickens, South Carolina. This team’s robot had a great hanging mechanism designed to earn bonus points at the end of each match.

The alliance battled hard through the first couple of rounds of eliminations; then they were down to the final matches. Only two alliances remained in the competition. Team 1102 and its alliance partners won the first match in the finals. They lost the second match in the finals. It came down to the last match. Spirits were high; team members from the stands continued to cheer loudly as they had done all day. However, despite an amazing effort, Team 1102’s alliance ended up losing the last match. This brought Team 1102 and its alliance partners to 2nd place overall for the entire competition.

The members of Team 1102 were awarded medals during the awards ceremony. These medals were in recognition of a job well done, and each member deserved such recognition. The team members worked hard to ensure their robot was solid. The drive team worked to make smart, quick decisions on the field. The media team got plenty of amazing action shots during matches. The pit crew pulled through by keeping things organized and helping to keep everyone safe while in the pit area. What about the other members? Where were they? They were in the stands, cheering for their drive team – a task that proved to be instrumental in maintaining enthusiasm on the field. Each member of Team 1102 had his or her own contribution to the planning of the robot, the building of the robot, and the success of robot at competition. Overall, the big bot has had a great season, and Team 1102 has momentum to build on through next year.

After arriving in Orlando, FL on the afternoon of March 9, 2010, M’Aiken Magic Team 1102 spent the next 36 hours working on homework assignments and team building activities. During these hours, the team members and mentors developed a spirit of unity and friendship that would be crucial over the next couple of days.

The Aiken City Council voted unanimously during tonight's meeting to eliminate the two hour downtown parking restrictions. Existing 30 minute parking spaces will remain as they are. The City Council plans to reevaluate the downtown parking situation in six months.