The Drive. It’s there, as intense as ever.

It’s in me, it’s on me, it’s all over me, this drive to succeed, this drive to serve. It’s alive, constantly churning, turning, burning bright.

It’s what I did twice last week: Make the drive to Columbia, that is.

The drive on Tuesday was to deliver our 2007 South Carolina Press Association journalism contest entries. It was a duty I could have delegated, but guess what? I like to drive. I once drove 34 hours nonstop, solo, from Riverside, Calif., to Columbia, Mo. (Thirty hours, actually, if you subtract the four I spent in a Las Vegas casino.) After one very good night’s sleep, I drove to New Jersey on my way to Long Island, N.Y., to start an internship with Newsday. So Anderson to Columbia, S.C., and back is nothing. Four hours alone in a car gives an editor valuable time to think.

The drive two days later was back to the SCPA for a Freedom of Information Committee meeting. It’s always time well spent, plotting public service with other state news executives.

The second trip offered a reminder, not really necessary, about why we do what we do: inform readers; perform public service; keep people on their toes.

The first trip was the culmination of some long days, nights and weekends spent preparing our best work from the past year for judges.

We don’t produce stories with contests in mind. We strive to serve the public, and if we do that well, we are proud to present good journalism to fellow journalists for judging.

One category in the SCPA contest is public service journalism. A newspaper is limited to two entries.

One of our entries is a collection of stories about the Anderson City Council conducting business behind closed doors. It all started with a call from a citizen who was watching the council meeting live on cable television. When the council went into executive session, the camera kept rolling — by accident.

Our report showed that the council violated the open-meetings law and that foul language was used in that session, disparaging a local businessman. Embarrassed council members apologized and later tightened guidelines for holding future executive sessions.

Again at the urging of a citizen, we investigated the purchase by the City Council of land owned by a councilman. We learned that no vote was taken, and records of the purchase did not seem to exist.

Our other entry is related to the mismanagement of proceeds from the annual charity Polar Bear Jump.

The day we broke the first story, I playfully had asked new reporter Liz Carey if she was going rake any muck that day. An hour later, she learned that the Special Olympics had not received any of the money it was supposed to get from the jump. The tip came from one of the jumpers.

Bottom line: We can best serve the public when the public serves us solid tips.

So … got any fuel to keep this driven editor’s motor running?