Book issue at Beaufort County schools still on readers’ minds. What’s the solution?

Committee good

Controversy abounds regarding these 97 books in the public schools libraries. So the question is this. Is this education or indoctrination? Who has the answer to this question? It’s all a matter of opinion. Has anyone objecting to these books personally read all 97 of them? I doubt it. So review with a well rounded committee, establish a policy, and donate those books deemed to be controversial and unacceptable for an in-school environment to the public libraries. Therefore parents can oversee their children’s extra reading material because with the onset of E-Books these books cannot be totally extinguished from inquiring minds. Let’s exercise working together on common sense remedies versus a demanding tug-of-war scenario.

Lyn Piwko Brown, Hilton Head

Committee bad

The recent issue of book banning is an important one, and one in which a student’s parents should decide, not a committee. It would not be difficult to create a restricted books section in the school libraries. A list of all of those books could be published on a school board website with descriptions of any possible objectionable content and a permission form for the parents to download and sign with a phone number. Parents could register their signatures and phone numbers for verification. The parents who are ultimately responsible for their children’s education and moral training should be the judge, not some committee. To just plain ban a certain list of books would make the titles of the “forbidden fruit” all the more desirable to the students who would find other sources.

Michael McNally, Callawassie Island

MCRD deaths

About the tragic multiple training related deaths suffered by MCRD recruits over the last several years, the only way that additional recruit deaths can be prevented is to assign commissioned officers to monitor the training of recruits. This action is necessary because MCRD in the past and into the present has done a very poor job of screening out abusive drill instructors, and recruits are not in a position to complain about such abuse.

Roger Elmore Lt. Col., ret., Beaufort

Clyburn was right

To castigate Congressman James Clyburn for his accurate analogy is a clear example of redirected verbal aggression. MAGA Republican behavior tracks that of the Nazi takeover of the German government, from the “gathering storm” to the Beer Hall Putsch by the various “militia” type groups, and beyond. Direct your admonishment where it belongs, not to those who, like Rep Clyburn, warn those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.

Claire Lobel, Hilton Head

Bonnie Raitt platform?

Governor Henry McMaster’s acceptance speech included some words from a Bonnie Raitt song: “We’ve got four more years to go, we’ve got more work to do, so let’s give ‘em something to talk about.” We indeed have work to do in SC, which rates 49th in school rankings, 39th in overall child well being and 34th in healthcare. So Governor, let’s get to work to improve the lives of all of our citizens. Maybe then, we will have something to talk about!

Ceil Treiss, Hilton Head

Thanks immigrants

I attended the recent Latin Music Festival at Shelter Cove on Hilton Head. It was a wonderful event especially for the hundreds to thousands of Latinos, their families, and allies to celebrate their heritage and lives as local workers, friends and neighbors. This demographic is critical to the life we live here in the Lowcountry, taking on jobs in such needed vocations as contracting, roofing, healthcare, landscaping, restaurants, resorts and hotels, and various other jobs. Not to mention the 600 Dreamers, young people many of whom have attended and graduated from our local schools and are pursuing careers involving healthcare, starting new businesses and even law school. Yes, we need a secure border, but Latinos and other minorities in South Carolina, many who have been here for decades, have a purchasing power of $8 billion and pay $33 million in state and local taxes. It’s time for comprehensive immigration reform, including a potential future path to citizenship, on behalf of this important “economic engine” of the Lowcountry.

George Kanuck, Bluffton

This story was originally published November 20, 2022 at 5:00 AM.