Letters to the Editor
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Supreme Court justices not immune to criticism
Poor Chief Justice John Roberts. He was uncomfortable because President Barack Obama criticized one of the Supreme Court's decisions during his State of the Union address.
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US census costs go up with pointless mailing
Last week, I received a letter from the U.S. Census Bureau advising me that, in about a week, I will receive a letter from the U.S. Census Bureau. Way to go, guys. Spend all that surplus cash.
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Environmentalists want to destroy capitalism
How many Americans know the real difference between a conservationist and an environmentalist?
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Today's the one day everyone can be Irish
Once a year, on March 17, my dear Irish wife, Joan Ann McGough, permits me to add a vowel to my last name so I know the real meaning of being an Irishman.
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Don't lump real issues with political behaviors
Your editorial cartoon Saturday that depicted the president selling the health care plan with the assurance that pre-existing mental conditions would be covered was incorrect and offensive on several levels, but it is really unfair to lump persons who do require mental health treatment in with some of the recently reported behaviors of politicians and lobbyists.
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Hospital has worked to prevent infections
As the new CEO of Hilton Head Hospital, I am pleased and proud to be associated with the physicians and staff who are first and foremost totally dedicated to providing only the best and safest care to every patient at our hospital.
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Produce data about public pre-schools
State Rep. Shannon Erickson is doing her job by asking the Beaufort County School District for information regarding its pre-kindergarten programs not mandated by the state.
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Beaufort Memorial can help STEMI patients
I read with concern a story about the STEMI heart attack care initiative, South Carolina Mission: Lifeline. I do not believe it accurately reflected the program details at the local level.
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Chamber president pay ridiculous in hard times
Annual compensation of $344,000 for the president of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce is beyond belief.
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Americans want jobs, not bad health care bill
Were President Barack Obama and the Democrats asleep during the recent elections in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts, when they lost decisively in states that were considered blue during the last presidential election?
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Dems sticking it to us with legislative maneuvers
President Barack Obama commanded: "Get it done."
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Chamber should promote air service to Hilton Head
I am in total agreement with a recent letter to the editor asking president Bill Miles and the rest of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce to spend more time selling the real Hilton Head Island Airport and asking Delta and US Airways to make it more attractive to fly into this airport instead of driving 40 miles to Savannah. It is easy to make the case -- travel time, cost of gas, high parking rates.
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New mall only speeds demise of existing retail
Beaufort and Jasper counties do not need more stores nor shopping areas. The members of our legislature should drive through their districts and see the number of buildings that have been vacated recently by businesses. A new mall may at first appear glamorous, but I fear it will pale after its initial splash, and the Lowcountry will be left with more vacant stores that spawn unsightly blemishes on our landscape. Nowhere is the domino effect more obvious than in a mall or shopping center.
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Managing pain doesn't mean hastening death
Recently, the Packet and Gazette printed an Associated Press article that reported on a research study in Chicago, in which parents claimed local doctors had been giving fatal morphine doses at the parents' requests to children dying from cancer. Some parents told researchers they had asked doctors to hasten children's deaths to end suffering and the doctors had complied.
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Hilton Head should build future on past success
We've been wintering here from Ontario, Canada, over the last 10 years or so, and we love it.
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Plans for new bridge a model for environment
Typically, highway bridges in Beaufort County and the Lowcountry have been designed so that stormwater runoff flows directly and untreated into our waterways. This runoff carries with it oils, grease, asbestos, rubber, heavy metals, sediments and other road debris into the creeks, rivers and marshes, contributing to contamination of the waters.
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Hilton Head's approach, attitude attract visitors
We are Canadians who have wintered on Hilton Head Island for the past 11 years, approximatingfour years of our lives.
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Selling GOP hypocrisy could end financial woes
How fitting to place Sen. Jim DeMint's rantings and ravings about tyranny and that favorite Republican bogeyman -- socialism -- right where they belong, amid coverage of demented crackpots such as Joseph Stack and John Patrick Bedell.
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Many objective reasons for cigarette tax hike
Last month, I submitted a letter urging a significant increase in the tobacco tax. Over a glass of wine, a good friend thanked me for my opinion and suggested personal opinions are rarely persuasive. Good point, well taken. So for any who might be curious, there are large databases you can reference.
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Chamber statistics fail to convince on sales tax
Mark Twain popularized the saying, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
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Issue not compensation, but Hilton Head's future
A recent story in The Island Packet on the proposed sales tax increase that is making its way through the South Carolina legislature has certainly drawn a lot of much-needed attention.
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Let chamber president chip in for marketing
Hilton Head Island Town Council's decision to release $300,000 in emergency funding for a Hilton Head
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Two wrongs won't make it right on terrorist 'deal'
Let me get this straight: Apparently, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is trying to structure a "deal" that would encourage the Obama administration to do the right thing (trying the terrorist involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by military tribunal), in exchange for Republican support for the administration's plan to do the wrong thing (closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility).
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You can be very sure, and still be very wrong
In response to the March 5 letter, "Obama's 'transparency' shows his power grab," I would remind the letter writer of former President George W. Bush's "sure" statements on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
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Difficult choices to make to avert financial disaster
The only way to save our country is to cut federal, state, county and local governments in half.
Letters to the Editor
Letters to the editor are welcome. Letters must be 250 words or less and signed with your first and last names. Include your street address and daytime telephone number so we can verify the letter before publication. You are limited to one letter per 30 days. Letters may be edited for length, style, grammar, taste and libel. All letters submitted become the property of The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette and may be republished in any format. The Packet and the Gazette do not publish endorsement letters on the editorial page. Thank you letters are published in the Monday Lowcountry Life section.
How to reach us
Mail: P.O. Box 5727, Hilton Head Island, SC 29938
Fax: 843-706-3070
Hand-delivered: 10 Buck Island Road, Bluffton or 1556 Salem Road, Beaufort
E-mail: letters@islandpacket.com or letters@beaufortgazette.com
Your Elected Officials
- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R)
U.S. Senate, 290 Russell, Washington, DC 20510
Office: (202) 224-5972 Fax: (202) 224-1189 - Sen. Jim DeMint (R)
U.S. Senate, 290 Russell, Washington, DC 20510
Office: (202) 224-6121 Fax: (202) 228-5143 - Rep. Joe Wilson (R-District 2)
U.S. House, 212 Cannon, Washington, DC 20515
Office: (202) 225-2452 Fax: (202) 225-2455 Track S.C. officials in Congress
- Gov. Mark Sanford (R)
Governor’s Office, State House, P.O. Box 12267, Columbia, S.C. 29211
Office: (803) 734-2100 Fax: (803) 734-5167 - Senator Tom Davis(R-District 46)
P.O. Drawer 1107, Beaufort, 29901-1107
(843) 252-8583
602 Gressette Bldg., Columbia, 29201
Bus. (803) 212-6008 - Rep. Curtis Brantley (D-District 122)
194 Bees Creek Rd., Ridgeland, 29936
(843) 726-5998
314D Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201
(803) 734-2965 - Rep. Richard Chalk (R-District 123)
326C Blatt Building, Columbia, S.C. 29211-1867
Office: (803) 734-3067; Home: (843) 842-5985
15 Goldfinch Lane, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29928 - Rep. Shannon S. Erickson (R-District 124)
(843) 986-1090
306A Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201
(803) 734-3261 - Rep. Bill Herbkersman (R-District 118)
P.O. Box 11867, Columbia, S.C. 29211
Office: (803) 734-3063; Home: (843) 757-5424
151 Gascoigne Bluff, Bluffton, S.C. 29910 - Rep. Kenneth F. Hodges (D-District 121)
PO Drawer 355, Green Pond, 29446
(843) 525-9006 Home (843) 844-8756
434B Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201
(803) 734-3062
- Rick Caporale (R-District 1)
17 Salt Wind Way, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29926
Office: 680-9999; fax: 681-6700 - Steven Baer (R-District 2)
10 Heather Lane, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29926
Office: 689-3570; fax: 689-3569 - Stu Rodman (R-District 3)
27 Baynard Park, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29928
Office: 363-470; fax: 363-6472 - Weston J. Newton chairman (R-District 4)
P.O. Drawer 7049, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29938
Office: 842-6111; fax: 706-9981 - William McBride (D-District 5)
P.O. Box 77, St. Helena Island, SC 29920
Fax:(843)838-8303
Home:(843)838-2264 - Gerald Dawson (D-District 6)
64-A Horace Dawsone Drive, Seabrook, SC 29940
Fax:(843)846-4738
Office:(843)846-4830 - Paul Sommerville vice chairman (R-District 7)
1509 Pigeon Point Road, Beaufort, SC 29902
Fax:(843)379-7115
Office:(843)379-7114 - Herbert N. Glaze (D-District 8)
P.O. Box 4053, Burton, SC 29903
Fax:(843)846-3601
Home:(843)846-2845 - Brian Flewelling (R- District 9)
25 Petigru Drive, Beaufort, SC 29902
Fax:(843)379-9806
Office:(843)379-9805 - Jerry Stewart (R-District 10)
11 Teaberry Lane, Bluffton, S.C. 29909
Office: 705-4753; fax: 705-4723 - Laura Von Harten (D-District 11)
166 Fuller Parkway, Beaufort, SC 29902
Fax:(843)379-1380
Office:(843)379-1367
- District Office: 1300 King St., P.O. Drawer 309, Beaufort, SC 29902
Office: 322-2300; fax: 322-2371
Hilton Head Island office, 689-4635; fax: 689-4617
Beaufort County Board of Education members:
- Fred S. Washington chairman (District 11)
PO 325, 804 West Street, Beaufort, SC 29901
(C) 843-524-8404 - Bob Arundell vice chairman (District 2)
198 Woodlake Villas, Hilton Head, S.C. 29926
Home: 681-8502; work: 7855-8040; fax: 785-3056; - Joan Deery (District 1)
5 old Fort Drive, Hilton Head, S.C. 29926
Home: 681-8968 - Wayne Carbiener (District 3)
Home: 843-363-2113 - Laura Bush (District 4)
P.O. Box 172, Bluffton, S.C. 29910
Home: 757-2638; fax: 757-2638 - Michael F. Rivers, Sr. (District 5)
734 Seaside Road, St. Helena, SC 29920
(H) 843-838-2277
FAX 843-838-1192 - Earl Campbell (District 6)
93 Bruce Smalls, Grays Hill, P.O. Box 768, Lobeco, SC 29931
(H) 843-846-4531
(C) 843-476-7512
FAX 843-846-1373 - Jim Bequette (District 7)
4 Broomfield Lane 2532, Beaufort, SC 29907
(H/C) 843-263-8327 - Herbert Burnes (District 8)
95 Pine Grove Road, Beaufort, SC 29906
(H) 843-846-445
(C) 843-263-2776 - Ronald Speaks (District 9)
3121 Palomino Dr., Burton, SC 29906
(H) 843-525-1163
(W) 843-525-8277
FAX 843-525-1163 - George Wilson (District 10)
20 Osprey Circle, Callawassie Island, S.C. 29909
Home: 987-1234; cell: 812-9870
- Mayor Billy Keyserling
771 Ribaut Rd., Beaufort, SC 29902
(843) 986-2444 (Work)
(843) 521-2600 (Home) - Councilwoman Donnie Ann Beer
P.O. Box 1171, Beaufort, SC 29901
379-6099 (Home)
379-2750 (Work) - Councilman Gary Fordham
860 Ribaut Road, Beaufort, SC 29902
524-3334 (Home) - Councilman Mike Sutton
809 Craven St., Beaufort, SC 29902
252-5687 - Councilman Mike McFee
2302 Wilson Dr. Beaufort, SC 29902
843-321-0556 (Work)
843-522-1528 (Home)
- Town Hall: One Town Center Court, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928; 341-4600 Town Council
- Mayor Thomas D. Peeples
4 Hartford Place, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928-3922
Home: 686-4138; office: 681-2600; fax: 689-3229 - Bill Ferguson (Ward 1)
634 William Hilton Parkway, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
Home: 686-2863 - William Harkins (Ward 2)
3 Old Fort Lane Hilton Head Island, SC 29926
263-3261 - cell - Drew A. Laughlin (Ward 3)
5 McIntosh Road, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
Home: 689-5723; work 689-5700; fax 689-9300 - John Safay (Ward 4)
19 Starboard Tack, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
Home: 785-4489; work: 785-4696; fax: 785-4696 - George Williams (Ward 5)
8 Braddock Cove, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
Home: 363-6601; fax: 363-6604 - Ken S. Heitzke (Ward 6)
3 Audubon Place, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
Home: 681-8182; fax: 681-9864
- P.O. Box 386, Bluffton, SC 29910
Office: 706-4500; fax: 757-6720
Town Council
- Mayor Lisa Sulka
P.O. Box 2750, Bluffton, SC 29910 - Fred Hamilton Jr
52 Goethe Road, Bluffton, SC 29910
Home: 815-5511 - Charlie Wetmore
P.O. Box 468 Bluffton, SC 29910
Home: 304-4061 - Councilman Oliver Brown
- Councilwoman Allyne Mitchell
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