Conversations on energy
By John Temple Ligon Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com
      One day after ConocoPhillips took a $4.5 billion impairment charge in its second quarter earnings due to a pullout from Venezuela, the company played host to a town meeting at the Columbia Marriott, Wednesday, June 27.
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Briefs
by John Temple Ligon
      Did you give your fair share? Americans added $295.02 billion to charities in 2006, a 4.2% increase over what was given in 2005. Arts, cultural, and humanities organizations took in $12.51 billion last year, a gain of 9.9% over 2005. The single largest category of giving in 2006 was religion, risi...
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Star Profile
Daniel Rickenmann, restaurateur
By John Temple Ligon Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com
      Daniel Rickenmann was out of college and into a career track but didn't quite know which one. Rickenmann knew he wanted to start a restaurant and kept his options open until he settled on the rotisserie, which in 1994 became Birds on a Wire on Devine Street.
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Folks about town
      Heidi Johnson was named executive director of Keep the Midlands Beautiful, a volunteer organization. Woodcreek Farms Country Club donated $19,000 to the National Kidney Foundation of S.C., which will pay in part for life- saving programs for the nearly half million South Carolinians the Foundatio...
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Toucan Talk
Avoiding a Financial Scam
Provided by Michael Oana mjo@teamoana.com
      In the wake of the most recent South Carolina Financial Scams, I think that it is important to review the basics of how not to get ripped off when it comes to making an investment. We have all read about several large scams that involved investment firms operating in our state. I can think of four...
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