Hilton Head Island High School issue could be over

Former Beaufort County School District superintendent Jeff Moss just will not go away. It seems like everything that he touched during his tenure reeks of controversy. The ethics violations, the p-card inaccuracies, the FBI investigations and now the Hilton Head Island High School principal situation.

If the school district, under the direction of Moss, would have followed protocol regarding the allegations of misconduct by principal Amanda O’Nan in 2016, we would not be discussing this today. The worst thing to happen to O’Nan is that Moss, for whatever reason, personally handled the investigation. If not for that, O’Nan’s name and photo would not be on the front page of The Island Packet today.

Interim superintendent Herb Berg has done the correct thing by reopening the investigation. Proper closure in this matter must occur so that all parties involved can move on.

As for O’Nan and DeJuan Holmes, whatever may have taken place between them, they are fully responsible for their behavior.

Long-term issues need attention

I recently participated in a discussion group on the question of whether President Donald Trump should be impeached and whether impeachment would carry the Senate. We covered the many constitutional and legal aspects well, but concluded this is chiefly a political question between our two dysfunctional political parties.

The Republican Party appears to be more concerned about winning in 2020 than how our country is being damaged by Trump’s wall issue and government shutdown. Similarly, the Democrats are reluctant to compromise, given the increased party animosity in the past decade.

While endless political debates might help the profits of our media, internet and TV-based corporations, they also out-prioritize progress on issues such as immigration reform, medical care coverage, cost-of-living wages, competitive secondary schools, reducing budget deficits, and Chinese trade.

We have succumbed to our advertising/internet-driven media, which saturates us with current news but almost forgets these more important issues that need to addressed for us to vote intelligently in 2020. Our two parties also are failing to help educate us by discarding their platform goals for the future and using the internet productively.

Reading newspapers, magazines and books that provide reliable information is still essential in our free society. The internet has great potential for educating our children and the lifelong education most will need in the future.

Let’s hope that we’ll give more thought to voting for the party that demonstrates that it cares about our country’s future welfare — and compromising occasionally.

Wall, shutdown a Trump waste

A recent writer wrote: “To ensure that Trump does not get credit” for the wall, Democratic leadership refuses to bargain in good faith. Democrats want the 45th president to get all the credit for a wall, they just don’t want to waste $20-plus billion for a wall that experts believe is the least effective way to stop illegal border crossings.

The only reason the federal government was partially shut down by President Donald Trump was because he wanted an initial $5.7 billion for a wall that he said Mexico would pay for. He could care less about the $1.3 billion for border security that the Democrats offered — the same $1.3 billion that the Republican leadership said Trump would accept when the Senate adjourned before the holidays. In addition, his administration hasn’t even spent monies previously appropriated for border security.

The writer believes mainstream print and TV media are worthless because they don’t tell him what he wants to hear. He believes “many” of the individuals and families crossing the border illegally are drug smugglers, child traffickers, etc. There may be some, but experts and facts indicate very few.

Democrats were thrilled when Trump said he would gladly accept full responsibility for the shutdown. Of course Democrats gave him full credit for the shutdown and the wall. He could even put his name in huge letters across the wall so when it is torn down a section would remain with his name including the words, “An era when America was stupid.”