But what will be left for all these Beaufort County ecotourists to see? | Letters
Develop Bay Point in the interest of ecotourism? That is an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one.
How many times do we have to be told that insects, amphibians, birds and mammals are increasingly threatened by habitat loss? Sea birds are a good example. Some have already resorted to roof tops to lay eggs.
How many times do we have to be told ocean levels are inexorably rising, putting coastal areas and the land behind at risk?
How many times do we have to be told south Atlantic storms are on the rise ... that aquifers are stressed ... that stormwater runoff poisons salt marshes, the habitat that nurtures the majority of marine life?
Ecotourism? Please. There will be nothing left for ecotourists to see.
Ford Hutchinson
Hilton Head Island
The newspaper, democracy and COVID-19
David Leonhardt of The New York Times recently wrote a very important editorial. He pointed out that prior to the pandemic, because of declining advertising revenue, local newspapers had already lost 25% of their journalistic staff. Now, because of worsening ad revenue due to the lockdown, Leonhardt said that up to 50% of the writers are gone.
He is greatly concerned about that decline, and so also should be every American citizen.
Leonhardt stated that voters are less likely to go the polls if they do not have a local print newspaper to help select candidates for whom to vote. When fewer people go to the polls, corruption and polarization are far more likely to occur, he said.
Leonhardt suggested a couple of solutions to avoid shutting down print newspapers. Governments and/or private philanthropists might contribute money to struggling publications to keep them afloat.
The print media might then feel beholden to the party in control of the government or to particular philanthropists when the subsidies were granted. A free press is not free if it must depend on government or individual donors for income. All of us personally need to support a free press. Without it, democracy is further enfeebled.
If The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette go completely digital, as they have hinted they may need to do in a new business model, good government on Hilton Head and in Bluffton and Beaufort is bound to suffer irreparable damage. Informed citizens need to pay for their news.
John M. Miller
Hilton Head Island
How to keep your face mask safe
Face masks that are used out in the public need to cleaned to kill any coronavirus spores that are clinging to the mask.
One of the best and least expensive ways to kill the virus spores on the mask (whether purchased or homemade) is to spray the mask on both sides until it is very damp or wet with 3% hydrogen peroxide. The peroxide is readily available in most supermarkets or drug stores. Hang the mask to allow it to dry for at least 15 to 20 minutes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says this is enough time to kill the virus.
The peroxide will kill the coronavirus on the mask and allow many reuses of the mask.
Philip W. Wolfe
Bluffton
Local officials not serving the public with new development
Even in times of crisis, the local powers that be continue act as if nothing has changed.
My reference is to a golf course (Island West) about to be bulldozed into a series of condos, homes and commercial interests.
Is there not a developer that an elected official, or unelected bureaucrat, doesn’t love? These officials don’t care about quality of life or environmental issues, just about lining the pockets of developers with cash, with a public-be-damned policy.
They care little about pressures on infrastructure, traffic and the future. In fact, the golf course owner in this case does not have the courage to publicly disclose who he or she is.
This is nothing more than a shameless continuation of public policy that has no concern for the citizens of this town and county. It is time for officials elected or otherwise to recuse themselves from their real estate interests when they enter the public arena. The conflicts of interest will only continue development that turns paradise into a parking lot.
Michael Sampogna
Bluffton
Beware: Today’s world awash in ‘experts’
This writer has had the same occupation for 48 years. That is known as work experience.
This writer has two postsecondary degrees in his occupational field. That is known as educational experience.
This work experience and educational experience assist this writer to do a better job at his chosen occupation.
However, notwithstanding all of this work experience and educational experience in one subject area, this writer has little knowledge about such subjects as climate control, national and international economics, immigration policies, local and national educational policies, or how to control a medical epidemic or pandemic, other than what he has read in books or seen on TV news (sic).
I believe in the words of a fellow named Einstein who said, “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”
It is very obvious that Mr. Einstein never knew any modern-day TV commentators, nor politicians, nor persons who live or work in Washington, D.C., or surrounding counties.
Without any work experience nor any educational experience in any of the subjects referred to above, those persons automatically become self-proclaimed plenary experts in all those subjects just by assuming the title of TV commentator, or politician, or resident of D.C. or surrounding areas.
Maybe Einstein had met Mark Twain, who said, “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself”?
J. Thomas Mikell
Beaufort
Share the message to youth: No smoking
As the owner of Piggly Wiggly Hilton Head and a board member of LowCountry Alliance for Healthy Youth, I decided a few years ago to stop selling tobacco products to promote positive health in young people.
Many of my teenage employees were experiencing pressure to sell to underage youth and their classmates. I didn’t want to be part of the problem of the growing teen use of nicotine products (in particular, e-cigarettes), so I felt it in my employees’ and community’s best interest to stop sales in my store.
My involvement with LCAHY has taught me even more about the dangers presented to our community’s youth through the use of tobacco products, and it validated my decision to stop selling these products.
With the outbreak of COVID-19, it’s more important than ever for young adults to stop using tobacco products to protect their health. The Food and Drug Administration has stressed that those who smoke or vape may be at an increased risk for COVID-19 and may have worse outcomes.
As we confront the coronavirus, we must be vigilant as the people responsible for the health and futures of our young people by providing them with all the information to allow them to make the best choices.
If you have young adults in your life, I encourage you to discuss the effects of vaping and smoking, and the connection between the health risks involved with these activities and the coronavirus with them. Visit our website, https://www.lcahealthyyouth.com, for more information.
David Martin
Hilton Head Island