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Letters to the Editor

No mask? It’s rude and selfish | Letters



I cannot think that going out mask-free these days is due to ignorance. With information readily available in the media, that type of behavior is just rude and selfish.

It is appalling to see so many people without masks in grocery stores and other necessary places of business.

We have been deluged with information stating the need to take safety precautions when out and about. Wearing a mask is not for our protection, but to protect others from us!

We have learned from all the experts that we can carry the coronavirus long before experiencing symptoms.

Our goal should be to practice consideration for others during this difficult time by doing anything we can to keep from spreading infection.

Can’t we inconvenience ourselves just a little bit instead of exhibiting rudeness and selfishness through our thoughtless negligence?

At the very least, please tie a bandanna around your face … help to keep the virus from spreading. These actions may save your loved ones and others from this disease.

Diane McKinnery

Bluffton

Newspaper lets us down

To paraphrase an old song, “If it weren’t for bad news, we’d have no news at all.” I get that feeling when I read this newspaper.

Clearly, President Donald Trump is deeply unpopular with politicians of both parties, and most especially the media. However, he is extremely popular with regular people.

He has extraordinary stamina and works relentlessly to help America. He hates socialism and all it stands for. The president has likened the attack by the coronavirus to a war, and in spite of the fact that he is clearly doing everything he can 24/7 to end the war, the media are doing all they can to be critical, negative and ludicrous in order to propel their own agenda.

Why?

Part of the answer may be found in a recent article. The editor was whining that the paper was dwindling and needs help. Yet every day this newspaper circulates the news with a negative perspective. The cartoons are disgusting, and the opinions appear to be written by card-carrying Marxists.

They pretend to publish both sides of the argument, but a large segment of the articles are downloaded from notoriously prejudiced publications such as The New York Times, et al.

The purpose of any newspaper is to sell papers and make money for its shareholders. The myth that they exist to propagate the truth in a nonprejudicial and accurate way is patently false by anybody’s imagination. To stay valid, it must appeal to a broad spectrum of opinions and project positivity.

Christopher D. Clayton

Hilton Head Island

Restaurants workers need to wear masks

I want to add my voice, and that of several friends, to the recent letter regarding the SERG Group’s policy of not requiring its servers and staff to wear face masks and gloves. Frankly, we are appalled at this decision.

While we applaud the SERG Group for being community-minded and stepping up to help during the COVID-19 crisis, we are puzzled as to why any restaurant would not follow the CDC recommendation that restaurant employees wear masks. Masks would protect both their staff and their customers.

This epidemic is far from over, and we do not have a cure.

Until that happens we all need to accept that it is a deadly disease. We need to protect ourselves by sheltering in place and protecting others when we venture outside.

We want to enjoy a restaurant meal as much as anyone, but only if it is safe to do so. We would like to come back, but not until then.

Carol Gyllenhoff

Hilton Head Island

Boston Marathon disappointment turns to blessing

As a Rotarian, I ask myself what I can do to help in these uncertain times.

After a bout with double pneumonia and a life-threatening pulmonary embolism in early 2019, I missed qualifying to run the Boston Marathon this year by 36 seconds. The disappointment turned into a blessing.

It’s my honor to be accepted as a fundraiser and runner for a great charity: The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Emergency Response Team. The team was created in recognition of the lifesaving response of hospital employees following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

This has special meaning to me, since I was near the bombings that year. I could not save a life then, but can help now.

Today, MGH is combating the COVID-19 pandemic and limiting its impact in Boston, throughout the country and around the world.

I’m running the 2020 Boston Marathon, my 10th in succession, in honor and memory of a former cancer patient at MGH, and a runner at the Dallas Marathon, who collapsed next to me at the finish line and tragically passed away.

Beaufort County is the most generous county in South Carolina, and perhaps the country. You caring and giving folks have had a profound impact. I’m proud to live here and call it home. Read more about that here: https://bit.ly/3cQBDim.

Clyde E. Dickey

Hilton Head Island

Democrats united, but still failing

I seldom find much to admire in today’s Democratic Party. They have been moved so far to the left by the socialists that it’s hard to remember when it was mainly moderate and slightly left of center. It’s far from the party of FDR, Harry Truman or JFK.

All parties have a radical wing, but it seems that the Dems are being ruled by theirs.

I have, however, been impressed with the Democrats’ ability to get their members to march in lockstep. Once the agenda is set and the talking points are handed down, no one ever deviates from the program. The politicians, the talking heads in the media, the party officials, and even the man or woman on the street, all say the same things, using the same words and phrases. It’s an amazing feat of control, especially in the United States.

They have accused President Donald Trump of being a Russian puppet, a sexist, a racist, an anti-Semite, and of committing “high cries and misdemeanors.” So far, not much of this has stuck.

The latest pass over the target are claims that “he has totally mishandled the COVID-19 crises,” “thousands have died unnecessarily,” “he is moving too fast, too slow, or not at all,” take your pick.

Who knows, this may be the one that works, but it would be nice if we could return to a time when people made their own decisions instead letting 24-hour news do it for them.

Jim Dickson

St. Helena Island

What happened to this great nation?

What has happened in 3-plus years to the country we knew?

The economy and jobs were growing out of the depression. Health care benefits and costs were improving. The environment was more healthy. We were respected and envied throughout the world.

The cabinet and government workers were stable and quietly doing their jobs. They weren’t being fired, resigning in disgrace, or going to prison.

The attorney general was pursuing the bad guys instead of harassing the good ones and repeating the president’s ridiculous conspiracy theories.

When the president was infrequently seen on TV, it was to give us important info in an intelligent, honest, and transparent way.

His time was not spent watching TV, tweeting lies and disparaging remarks about others, and constant campaigning. It was spent in long days behind his desk serving our citizens.

What happened?

Donald Trump happened.

Gail Chirichetti

Bluffton

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