No server mask, no serving me on Hilton Head | Letters

I was more than a little dismayed that the SERG Group restaurants are not requiring their servers to wear masks as the serve patrons.

As owners of some of the most popular restaurants on Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton, I would expect them to be more responsible while COVID-19 is still circulating.

I, for one, will take my business elsewhere, where they respect the health of their customers.

Jerri Kurowski

Bluffton

Beaufort County decisions ruining Lowcountry

Oh, goody. I was so excited to see the front page with the headline: “Over 600 homes ... coming to Okatie River.”

Wonderful.

That means more traffic on our already crowded roads.

That means more strain on our already maxed-out infrastructure.

That means more people in the (soon to be) already packed restaurants.

That means more people where we don’t need them, and that means more impact on just about everything that is already over capacity now.

Great.

Thank you for ruining the once beautiful and quiet South Carolina Lowcountry with all the development plans to add more and more. Good job, Beaufort County. Good job, planners and developers. I am proud of you.

Lisa Gravil

Okatie

They’re back: For bicycle safety on Hilton Head, think Mr. Rogers

We are in an extraordinary time. Our streets, pathways, beaches and parks were empty. And we were able to enjoy the quiet serenity of our community and fantastic multiuse pathways system to connect with nature, get fresh air and needed exercise.

Then, suddenly, visitors arrived and peace and quiet disappeared. Our pathways are busy again with visitors escaping months of lockdown. For some, common pathways etiquette and bike safety practices aren’t top of mind.

Please understand where these people have come from. And ask yourself, what would Mr. Rogers do if he were here? I would submit that he would be a very good neighbor.

He would be cautious about how he drove his car and rode his bike. Stopping at intersections, he would look twice each way to make certain a happy cycling family wasn’t going to zoom through. And if there was a waiting cyclist, he would make eye contact before deciding who goes first.

When riding on our pathways, he would practice social distancing at all times. He would keep right, pass left after slowing his bike and announcing his presence to pass. And he wouldn’t block our pathways when stopped.

He would show our guests why we are a gold level bicycle friendly community. That is what Mr. Rogers would do. Doing this will help make a positive difference these next few weeks and on into the summer. And please, take steps to stay healthy.

Thank you.

Frank Babel

Co-chair Hilton Head Island Bicycle Advisory Committee

Hilton Head Island

Post office not delivering mail on time

I have recently experienced the inadequate performance of the post office.

I mailed an important check to my homeowners’ association on April 23. It arrived at the HOA on May 7. I was charged a late fee. It should not take 14 days to go five miles.,

The IRS stated that it mailed the stimulus check on May 8 and, so far, nothing has arrived.

This lack of performance is beyond the pale. We are depending on service that ensures the post office does its job.

As far as I am concerned, they have not, and I am paying the late fees to prove it.

Nancy Munzig

Bluffton

SNL skit on drinking a bad example for youth

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” shared a skit showing children drinking alcohol with the repeated phrase “let kids drink.”

As LowCountry Alliance for Healthy Youth’s coordinator for Teens for Healthy Youth in five high schools south of the Broad River, and as a high school teacher, I am very concerned about the harmful content displayed and the negative consequences on youth.

While I recognize that this late-night show is intended for an adult audience, children and teens can easily access this skit via the internet.

Scientific research is clear that social media impacts our youth and their decisions, and evidence proves teens are at risk for drug use and addiction because the teenage brain is still developing.

NBC provides a distorted view of alcohol use to our youth in this SNL skit. As a parent, who has children with a family history of addiction, I am appalled that SNL used children drinking alcohol as a way for families to cope with stress during COVID-19.

The U.S. Surgeon General maintains that addiction is one of the greatest health concerns facing our nation.

NBC has creative writers and producers who can make skits that are humorous and not detrimental to children and teens.

I encourage individuals to write to NBC and ask them to be responsible and remove this skit from the internet. Every citizen has a responsibility to protect our nation’s youth and help promote positive youth development.

Laura Pirkey

Hilton Head Island

Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce helps unite community

After retiring last year as president of the Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival, I’ve come to appreciate a number of things more than I ever have before about our community.

We live in an amazing place, made possible in large part by the visitors who choose to come here. I see it through fresh eyes as I enjoy the benefits of retiring on the island.

While our normal way of life has looked differently lately, we’re finding ways to get the community back up and running. Stepping up for our businesses is more important now than ever.

Hats off to the chamber of commerce for its support of our community with the Path Forward plan and uniting our community while preparing safely for reopening. Their transparency and collaboration have shown a commitment to the safety of our residents. They’ve united our community in more ways than one.

There will be the inevitable speed bumps along the way. We can allow it to separate us or unite us.

Visitors will eventually return. Let’s welcome them back under our new circumstances and remember their contribution.

Let’s show the world what Southern hospitality is all about as we begin to reopen our island home.

Carolyn Vanagel

Hilton Head Island

One for all? Or all for one? Pandemic will give us answer

It seems that there are constant reminders on TV about the twin “duties” of (1) staying home and (2) doing something to help someone. The latter is our impulse and it runs strong. Yet, I’m compelled and comforted by what seems to be my reality – I’m old enough (plus 60 by 10 years) and frightened by COVID-19 enough that I am in hiding.

That is an odd thing to be, even for a person that doesn’t mind solitude. We all want or need some degree of association, some affiliation, some gained or given warmth for ourselves and others.

So the puzzle comes with “reopening” our lives to the risks, both common and uncommon ones. When to do, how much to do, what to do with whom??? These all are questions newly to be answered in this age of pandemic – this era of panic.

We must trust again, right? Trust that the air we breathe will not grow an organism to stop us? Trust that the stranger we meet will not harm us or those we love.

We want to trust. And yet.

Stand up for your rights, scream those who insist on “reopening.” Your cause is justly singular in its common uniqueness. We have to be in it for ourselves, don’t we? What’s more America-first than me-first?

So we hide until “they” tell us it’s OK and then, maybe, we will believe them and will act, again, one for all. Won’t we?

David Bruce Grim

Beaufort

This story was originally published May 17, 2020 at 9:39 AM.