Is today’s Marine Corps this heartless? | Letters
Marines helping Marines. What a joke! The purpose of this letter is to vent my frustration and to make the numerous retired Marines in the area aware of the negative change in their Corps.
Due to some arcane directive from the Department of Defense, the Parris Island command gave users of the Parris Island Rod & Gun Club, including the Marine Corps League, Yellow Footprints Detachment, one month (until February) to relocate unless they were willing to lease it for $14 per square foot. For a nonprofit organization? For what reason?
While we co-occupied this venue, the Marine Corps League was able to establish a community financial aid and benevolent assistance program to assist Marines in distress after the minimal assistance of organizations such as Navy Relief and the Red Cross petered out. We donated $1,000 to aid Capt. Jake Frederick’s family after he was killed when ejecting from his F-18 off the coast of Japan. That same year, we donated $2,000 to the purchase of a new DAV van, along with providing $5,000 in scholarships to Marine dependents.
Our recent annual account of this type of assistance came to $11,407.
During my tour of duty in the old Corps (1953 to 1974) the powers that be would have encouraged these efforts, perhaps even providing financial assistance.
This is not the Corps I loved and once served.
This is my own, sole opinion and not that of the Yellow Footprints Detachment.
Bernie Eveler
Lady’s Island
US justice system turns a blind eye on itself
Reporter Kacen Bayless performs a valuable service by pursuing Stu Rodman’s unreleased “personal” communications that belie his influence in the U.S. 278 Jenkins Island project. Rodman’s unwillingness to provide these questionable communications illustrates the thumb-nosing to which many public officials now feel remarkably entitled.
There is no genuine oversight but for an alert public, informed by solid investigative reporting. Who else can provide oversight and scrutiny with the ability to call public officials to task?
Exploitation and corruption have become particularly consequential in our court system because for decades judges and lawyers have been afforded unreasonable professional license and collegial protection by their peers.
The 2018 Annual Report of the Washington, D.C., judicial disciplinary commission indicates that in 2018, they received 70 complaints regarding DC judges (similar to other years) — none of which resulted in “disciplinary action.”
What are the odds there wasn’t one bad apple among 70 complaints?
Unreported, however, is that the commission’s FY 2018 budget reduction “crippled the commission’s ability to continue its use of legal and investigative services,” funding only the expenses of its executive director and an assisting specialist. This information was never passed along to the claimants.
In 2008 to 2015, the South Carolina Judicial Disciplinary Commission reported the average number of complaints per year was 339, and 83% were “dismissed.”
The average number of “public reprimands” was 0.88%. Annual reports are available online to the public, but they rely on the fact that no one reads them.
Kate McClintic
Beaufort
Big questions about Hilton Head US 278 corridor
Recently, when the Town of Hilton Head Island’s U.S. 278 Gateway Corridor Committee submitted its report, I was among many who left with more questions than answers.
Neither the SCDOT nor the town are addressing two primary issues: 1) Stoney, and the possibility that families might lose their generational homes and 2) that the SCDOT can and should perform an Environmental Impact Study. It would address the potential impacts on everything from residents to the environment, and provide more accurate road options. This would enable us, from the residents to the town, to make informed decisions.
A resident questioned the purpose behind the SCDOT’s creation of a Stakeholder’s Group, its selection process, and what information they’re receiving.
I’m a stakeholder representing the native islanders. How we were selected is a SCDOT question. What I’ll share is that each stakeholder comes from a group or island entity that would be directly impacted by, or involved in, the project. Stakeholders received the exact information when it was released to the public and tasked with sharing it with our respective entities.
That clears up one question. Mine are: Why was Stoney not discussed with the committee’s recommendations? When will the human element – not trees or bikes – be included in the recommendations? Why hasn’t the SCDOT done an EIS? For transparency, why can’t the SCDOT share the areas that the stakeholders represent?
The U.S. 278 project is ours to live with, which entitles us to make decisions based on complete and accurate information.
Luana Graves Sellars
Hilton Head Island
How to help Hilton Head turtles and oceanfront property owners
Hilton Head Island has recently seen dramatic increases in the number of endangered and threatened sea turtle hatchlings reaching the Atlantic Ocean from its beaches.
Regarding possible beach lighting restrictions that would help prevent misdirection of the hatchling’s positive phototaxis response, the following measures will further improve our hatch success rate making Hilton Head a showcase for sea turtle population best practices:
▪ Establish a sea turtle protection zone, identifying which buildings must comply with beach lighting regulations. Develop a lighting standard that must be installed by ordinance prior to a date-certain and before any property put under contract goes to closing. The list of designated properties should be made public.
▪ Allow no exemptions or waivers for single- or multi-family residential properties or commercial buildings from lighting restrictions in proximity to beaches that are visible from the first dune. One bright light can kill scores of hatchlings.
▪ Develop financial programs for residents and businesses, such as grants. Subsidize technologies, such as passive solar windows and tinting products, reducing financial burdens on those who modify their buildings. Create a task force to educate property owners and coordinate installations with them to minimize their financial outlays.
▪ Identify any federal grants that are available to minimize costs of modifying buildings and assist owners with grant applications.
Sea turtles attract visitors to our island home, so residents and businesses should protect turtle offspring in their desperate dash to the sea. It’s the right thing to do.
Fereol de Gastyne
Hilton Head Island
Relationships, society and God
Several years ago, I heard one of my favorite religious leaders suggest that one’s active religion is chiefly about our relationships with God and others, as well as our media, organizations, businesses, entertainment, education, etc.
As I approach my 90th birthday, I increasingly understand that I’m losing involvement with many of these and reflecting on many relationships I had that benefited me and others the most, while hoping that I can still help others. I also recognize that I had some significant opportunities that I out-prioritized for whatever reason.
Experiencing society today brings the added dimension of our TV/internet media, which endlessly emphasizes the negative and focuses on the individual’s response and entertainment, casual relationships and our photographic appearances. The internet also provides significant advantages for corporations and new-business creation and will chiefly become entertainment-oriented with hope that it may help education more and perhaps religion too.
Society mostly agrees that this is progress, but the more important question is what our priorities are for the future that our governments and politicians seldom adequately address, but we ourselves can’t ignore.
Our world’s current virus problem may also provide us with the opportunity to think more about our changing relationships as new challenges for society arise.
Praise God!
Walt Schymik
Hilton Head Island