Bluffton residents deserve Hilton Head beach pass | Letters
Bluffton Residents Should Not Be Treated Unfairly by Hilton Head Island
I have lived in Bluffton for eight-plus years. Like the majority of residents in Bluffton, I live here full-time. Like most Bluffton residents, I regularly support Hilton Head Island restaurants, and I shop at the island’s retail stores year-round.
Bluffton residents are a major contributor to the economy of Hilton Head, not just in season but year round.
The residents of Bluffton and Hilton Head rely upon and support each other.
In that spirit, it seems particularly tone deaf for the Town of Hilton Head Island to deny Bluffton residents a simple beach parking pass.
Let’s find opportunities to come together, not push each other apart. Bluffton residents should not be treated as second-class citizens. We should be able to purchase beach parking passes.
Helene Kugit
Bluffton
Open up? Look at the reason coronavirus numbers are low
I am a retired registered nurse and spent a goodly portion of my career in emergency nursing.
I have had people come to the ER with a blood pressure of 220/110 or higher with a history of hypertension and on blood pressure medications. When I asked them if they were taking their meds they would say, “No.” When I asked them why not they would tell me they didn’t have to anymore because their blood pressure was good.
A recent letter presented us with a lesson in mathematics and proved that using the most up to date statistics, the odds of dying in Beaufort County or South Carolina are very small. Therefore, why not just open everything up and “take the odds”?
This is a classic example of cause and effect. My patient’s blood pressure was normal because he was taking medication to control it. The numbers that the writer presented were so low because of the restrictions that were put into effect because of the pandemic.
In both cases there was a problem (high blood pressure, and a pandemic) and in both a corrective action was taken (blood pressure meds, and close businesses and stay at home). When my patient stopped taking his meds his pressure went back up. What do you think will happen if we open everything back up?
Henry A. Robertson
Beaufort
Hilton Head leaders need common sense
Hilton Head Island mayor John McCann has to go.
This is no “armchair quarterbacking.” I didn’t like (or vote) for him during his campaign, and would feel even far less inclined to do so now.
Have some backbone! Here’s a suggestion. Stop watching the news – maybe skip every other day – or listening to focus groups. Common sense told me weeks ago (before the “experts” chimed in) that outdoor activity was a safe pathway for us stay-at-home people. The fact that most beaches are still closed but golf courses (golf courses!) are open is infuriating.
Maybe he should read some studies, or look around. Free-thinking mayors and governors around the U.S. are taking some calculated chances based on the balance between potentially lost lives and livelihoods. Both do matter.
The governor of Florida is asking that many journalists apologize to some of the mayors in north Florida having the boldness and leadership skills to open beaches “early.” I say extend those apologies to small-town mayors in South Carolina doing the same.
The Town Council is not exempt from this. I’ve watched online the hemming and hawing going on. My gosh, STOP! We’re all at fault for electing many (but not all) of these people.
I ask that they make some common-sense decisions a typical ninth grader can make in terms of having some balance in life.
Perhaps the mayor should have made a questionable trip to the Far East for some yin-yang wisdom rather than that trip to Italy.
John Lazinski
Hilton Head Island
Vote-by-mail: SC needs changes for November vote
We must ensure South Carolinians can vote safely in November. No one should risk exposure to coronavirus from waiting in line to exercise our most basic American right.
We need to extend South Carolina’s right to vote by absentee ballot to every registered voter, not just those who meet certain requirements, such as having a disability, serving in the military or who will be away on Election Day. So everyone can easily participate, absentee ballots should be mailed to all registered voters, with a postage-paid return envelope and instructions on how to complete and return the ballot.
Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah and Hawaii already have vote-by-mail elections. Even Georgia has adopted “no excuse” absentee voting for 2020. Does Georgia value lives more than South Carolina?
It’s a nonpartisan issue. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll reported 72 percent of Americans, including 65 percent of Republicans, want a vote-by-mail option for November’s election.
Predictions of massive voter fraud are baseless. After the hotly contested 2016 election, the Trump administration formed a voter fraud commission. In 2018, the commission disbanded after finding no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
We need to act now to put a system in place for November. Please support this safe and sensible approach to voting. Write to South Carolina’s governor and your local state representatives.
Tell them you expect them to keep us safe by adopting vote-by-mail for all, and that you will watch to see if they do.
Wes Dvorak
Bluffton
Letter from IRS looks like a Trump ad
I received a letter today from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in Austin, Texas, labeled “Official Business, Penalty for Private Use, $300.”
Enclosed was a letter with the letterhead of the White House dated April 15, explaining that my “economic impact has arrived.”
The substance of the letter was that I had been chosen to receive $xxxx.xx from the CARES Act by President Donald J. Trump. The notice was in English and Spanish, and the Spanish version was signed Presidente (for life) Donald J. Trump.
My question is, Will each congressman or senator who voted for the CARES Act be entitled to send a similar letter to each recipient at taxpayers’ expense under the guise of official business?
It’s not bad enough that Trump takes “no responsibilty” for his totally incompetent handling of the pandemic crisis, but now he’s using the IRS to publicize his ability to sign his name to a bill negotiated by the Congress.
Paul Armstrong
Hilton Head Island
Deficits versus the pandemic
As a candidate, Donald Trump pledged to invest federal dollars in a nationwide infrastructure initiative, a good idea supported by Democrats and Republicans alike. The nation’s roads, bridges and water systems are sorely outdated and desperately need investment.
But after the election, conservative priorities prevailed and Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell rammed through a $2 trillion tax cut that primarily served the top 1% and corporations while widening the gap between the rich and everybody else.
The GOP seemed unconcerned about the effects of the tax cut on federal deficits. An economic expansion was predicted, but did not happen to any significant degree. Neither were there concerns when Trump began bailing out farmers due to his own tariff policies, unlike Obama corporate bailouts that were repaid with interest.
Suddenly a pandemic creates a worldwide economic crisis. The U.S. is investing federal dollars to contain the damage done to businesses and individuals alike. Again, there is bipartisan support for this much-needed relief, and I support it too.
The federal deficit hit a record 30% of GDP in 1943 when American was fighting World War II. Economists predict that federal deficits, as a percentage of GDP, will break the even greater 1946 record next year. We survived it then, and the decade that followed was considered a golden age for America.
But suddenly there is rumblings among fiscal conservatives about limits of federal debt. My question for conservatives is: “Where was your concern when you gave the cookie jar to the superrich?”
Jerry Whalen
Bluffton