Charleston, S.C., retains title of nation's most mannerly city

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Charleston, S.C., has earned another title as the nation's most mannerly city, followed by the Illinois and Iowa communities known as the Quad Cities.

Charleston has been on the list all 24 years it has been compiled by etiquette expert Marjabelle Young Stewart, and the ranking she issued Friday was the seventh that rates the city No. 1.

''Charleston is the role model for the rest of the country,'' said Stewart from her home in Kewanee, Ill. ''One woman said, 'I make sure I visit there once a year to see a gentleman in action.'''

Stewart, author of ''Common Sense Etiquette,'' bases her list on thousands of letters and faxes, many of them from people who have taken her etiquette courses.

Following the Quad Cities area - Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline and Rock Island, Ill. - Milwaukee ranked third this year and Las Vegas was fourth.

The Quad Cities have ''instructed taxi drivers how to greet guests and make guests feel welcomed,'' Stewart said, adding that people who sent her letters about the area ''loved to do business there.''

John Graham Altman, a legislator who represents Charleston in the South Carolina House, said he wasn't surprised his city was atop the list again.

''It's a whole Southern custom to be polite to folks, even though you disagree with them,'' Altman said. ''It doesn't cost anything to say please, excuse me and thank you. There are so many bad manners in the world. If we can be an oasis of decent manners, so be it.''