Some amendments

Two quick amendments to my post on adjutant general aspirant Glenn Lindman.

First, I must apologize profusely for an error: I said the highest rate Mr. Lindman had reached in the Guard was staff sergeant, when he was actually first sergeant. Yes, I know the difference — the first is an E-6, the latter and E-8. A first sergeant is the top enlisted man in a unit.

I’ve fixed it on the post. I just mention it now to correct it for those who read it in the original, erroneous, form.

Secondly…Well, I’m not sure what’s true on this one. Friday afternoon, I received this message from Catherine Christman, VP for communications at ETV:

    Heard this afternoon from Col. Pete Brooks of the SC
National Guard.
    He told Andrew Gobeil that
the SC National Guard had received a new responsibility
(placed in charge of air defense above Washington), that would
necessitate a trip
by the Adjutant General
Stan Spears to Washington DC on Monday (the day of the scheduled debate).
    Gobeil discussed the possibility of rescheduling, and
floated Oct. 9 as an alternative, pending approval  from Mr. Lindman. The date was deemed unsatisfactory by Col. Brooks, who
cited a previously  scheduled engagement for
Adjutant General Spears.
    Consequently, we will now air a half-hour Q&A
with Mr. Lindman on Monday.

Interestingly, Mr. Lindman — who says the incumbent spends too much time out of state and too little attention on his troops — predicted at the end of our interview Wednesday that he’d be appearing alone Monday night. His reaction today? "Sound familiar?  The show goes on with just me appearing."

So anyway, I went in and changed a reference to the debate in my Sunday column, to reflect that Mr. Lindman would be alone.

Then, after I left the office early at about 4:45 (I had to drive to Charlotte to catch a plane to Pennsylvania), I got a call saying another message had come in to the effect that they were still trying to work out a mutually acceptable debate.

So we removed all reference to debates from the column — which is a shame, because I had wanted to let everybody know about it (as opposed the precious few thousand who read the blog). I don’t know who will be there when I show up Monday night, and I’m in no position to find out, on a Saturday out of state with no access to my work e-mail.

But I’ll be there, at ETV at 7:30. Actually, I’ll be there at 7, for a half-hour with the two candidates for agriculture commissioner. Tune in.