Support Hilton Head Island referendum | Letters
The Packet’s negative response to the proposed May referendum troubles me.
This proposal entails no additional annual outlay of taxpayer money. It extends a payment obligation 25 years, but the annual burden is equal to our payments to replenish the disaster relief fund. This proposed funding will improve existing assets and add amenities enhancing residents’ quality of life.
Town of Hilton Head Island staff has discussed plans for over a year and has had input through the Venue Committee and Parks and Recreation Committee. Mitchelville’s master plan is completed, and Coastal Discovery Museum has developed specifications for improvements that will include other heritage organizations and benefit the community at-large.
A May vote seems rushed, but having such a referendum included with others on county or national ballots can only confuse considerations benefiting Hilton Head residents alone. This decision needs to be made by island residents as an independent matter.
Plus, moving from initial planning and citizen committee input to engineering drawings and construction documents requires lead time, and being able to move quickly from documents to implementation allows realization of investment benefits on an accelerated basis.
Importantly, the funding source (TIF) we have been drawing on to support past investment in like projects expires in 2021 … so there is more urgency than meets the eye.
Engineering studies will determine where specific features or facilities can be placed. Once the referendum is passed, the public will be able to respond to proposed plans. We all need to support this initiative.
Richard Thomas
Hilton Head Island
The difference in America shows clearly after impeachment
You don’t have to be a good judge of people to realize basic differences between two kinds of persons: Democratic politicians and Republican politicians.
If you watched TV on the morning of Feb. 6, the two leaders of each party were on grand display demonstrating the basic differences. Nancy Pelosi accused Donald Trump of many horrendous deeds, from lying to cheating. Nancy also defended her followers, heaping high praise on them, even though they had just spent months trying to destroy Trump and ended up with nothing more than a total waste of time and money.
Around noon, Trump spoke and thanked a large room full of brilliant and successful politicians who had just successfully defended him on bogus charges aimed at overthrowing him. This was not a gang of deplorable people; this crowd was the very best that America has to offer.
On the other hand, the misfits who tried to impeach Trump represent the worst that our country has to offer.
The two speeches showed exactly why this country is so divided and why there is no hope in this country of coming together for a long time.
The lesson learned is that not a single Democrat should be elected in the upcoming election. Democrats need to regroup and refocus. Compare where we’re currently headed to where we will be if we elect any of the current Democratic hopefuls and it won’t be climate change that will be the ruination of our country, it will be Democratic politicians.
Don Gwaltney
Bluffton
A great story in these Hilton Head Island villas
I’m thankful for your front-page color photo this week of OceanWalk Villas on the south end of Hilton Head Island. This adds another layer of positive to our community.
There is a big story with this property. It wasn’t that long ago that we were on the front page for the less-than-flattering “lockout” units. Your regular articles put what I call “positive pressure” on many out-of-state owners to reconsider their damaging business model.
If you pull Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office calls for service for the last few years, you will see why we have had dramatic increases in property value. We now operate as a resort. The majority of owners are now doing short-term vacation rentals. The next largest group are full-time owner/residents and owners keeping private vacation homes.
Life, after nearly two decades of daily police presence, is now great.
When OceanWalk was built in 1982, its nickname was “Park Avenue.” The property sold out before construction was completed. It’s been a long and, at times, troubled road to get back to where we are today.
We have you and your team of reporters to thank for where we are today.
Bruce Bartow
Hilton Head Island
PACs aid Joe Cunningham
Recently a reader wrote in about U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham “never taking a penny from PAC” groups, etc.
Just to provide factual information, the letter said Cunningham is endorsed by End Citizens United, which is a PAC.
His campaigns have received support through other PACs, like ActBlue and 314Action.
Just go to the Federal Election Commission and search for it. It’s all available for you to read.
Mike Covert
Bluffton
(The writer is seeking the Republican nomination for the First Congressional District seat held by Cunningham.)
Be prepared for REAL ID
I recently received a notification that my driver’s license would expire on my upcoming birthday. I also learned that many South Carolinians may be holding licenses that are no longer “real” in terms of proving ID for federal purposes. That means flying on commercial airplanes, among other things.
Apparently, if you have a valid U.S. passport, you will be fine, but if you do not have a passport or a REAL ID, you will be turned away.
I urge everyone to check his or her license to make sure it will be of use to you when traveling. Check the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles for details. Be prepared. Don’t be turned away.
Phyllis Bartoe
Hilton Head Island
Comments on Schiff overdone
This is my first-ever letter to the editor. I was inspired by the letter of Feb. 5 by a writer urging no thanks to U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff.
How is this person so intimately connected to Schiff that he can call him, with such certainty, “a dangerous political hack ... a serial liar ... does not have an honest bone in his body”?
And where does he get the right or the privilege to hold The Island Packet “in contempt”?
I suggest this writer get real facts and read from a variety of sources before he slanders others.
For the record, I am an Independent.
Charles Lacey
Hilton Head Island
Democrats not
ready to govern
An enduring strength of our republic is that, with a notable exception, the transfer of power is peaceful and the losers accept electoral results. The exception, the reaction to Lincoln’s victory by Southern Democrats and the ensuing horror of civil war.
Unfortunately, the current Democrats have reprised that history, refusing to accept the 2016 results, blaming defeat on Russia, the Constitution’s structure and whatever else they conjure in deranged hatred of President Donald Trump.
Beyond the countless attacks on administration personal in public places, and even young teens wearing MAGA hats, they have been calling for impeachment regularly since their embarrassing defeat.
Democratic partisans refuse to accept facts that are inconsistent with their failed and harmful narrative, like the Mueller probe, the Horowitz report indicting the corruption at the base of Mueller’s probe and, most recently and hopefully finally, the shameful and failed impeachment effort. It failed, not because the Senate called no witnesses (untrue: see the Adam Schiff witness transcripts in the record), but because the Democratic House botched the case and, more importantly, Trump did not commit an impeachable offense.
I feel sorry for Democratic partisans and those who value a two-party system because the Democrats have become the gang that can’t shoot straight. The botched impeachment, the Iowa fiasco, reminiscent of the Obamacare rollout, capped by a childish display by the House Speaker, suggests that the Democrats are unready to govern.
That Trump accomplished so much in the face of unprecedented resistance is amazing.
Francis Dunne Sr.
Hilton Head Island