Norman Dukes experiences a different “rural”

An Oconee County law enforcement officer’s long-distance walk is acquainting him with a rural part of South Carolina previously not experienced by him. As the school resource officer in Salem, Dukes is well familiar with the rolling hills of the upstate. But his last leg of a two-to-three year walk to benefit education has opened his eyes to a different kind of rural—the kind you can’t experience at the wheel of a car. On his last leg, Dukes so far has made it nearly 60 miles east of Columbia. That leaves him 66 miles from his destination at Sullivan’s Island. “Very, very rural,” he says. “This past couple of weeks I’ve walked through a lot of cotton farms, with literally thousands of acres of cotton.” Dukes still accepts contributions which he’ll turn over to Tamassee-Salem Elementary School to help pay for its fifth graders to make an education trip in the spring to Washington, DC. You can contribute by calling Dukes at 864/723-3981.