Hilton Head and South Carolina are not serious about COVID-19 | Letters
I just returned from two weeks in upstate New York. It’s clear why cases of COVID-19 are declining there.
The state is divided into regions. Each region is on its own timetable to reopen, according to four phases. To go from one phase to to the next phase of reopening, the region must meet certain criteria. What can reopen, and what a business must do upon reopening is very specific. It all seemed very scientific and metric-controlled.
The contrast with Hilton Head Island, and South Carolina, couldn’t be greater.
It seems we have no rules and no plan. If there are rules, they tend not to be enforced.
To contrast, everyone is required to wear a mask to enter a Walmart in New York, whereas here, I would estimate that about half of the shoppers wear masks, which is voluntary.
I understand we are a vacation destination, and as a result, people don’t want to wear masks, that they want to gather to dine out, or that they are here to try and forget about social distancing. But our numbers continue to rise dramatically.
If we really want to get this under control, we need leadership that is more like Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and local officials who are willing to enforce the requirements for safety.
David Luellen
Hilton Head Island
Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber must open its books to Beaufort County
For several years now many of us on Beaufort County Council and a few in other localities, have gone around and around with the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce and the money it receives from the county and the municipalities, aka “taxpayer money.”
Also, I was the one who spearheaded the call to not fund them by anything other than any state statute until things change.
Well, Joe Citizen, nothing has changed. Arguably, it has gotten worse.
We still have not been delivered receipts for any monies sent to the Chamber from Beaufort County.
Their excuse is that they won a S.C. Supreme Court case against Skip Hoagland, DomainsNewMedia.com v. Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, and in their own words have said they don’t have to show the records to anyone in the public.
I have asked, former County Councilman Rick Caporale has asked, and others have asked, all independently, but have been told we can only see them twice a year with proper and advance notice.
Are you kidding me? We should be able to see these records at any time as it is consumers’ tax money. We are told they can’t give out, as Chamber CEO Bill Miles calls it, their “secret sauce.” Nothing could be more preposterous and be more nonsensical than to say that, and accept that.
We have been asking and we have been asking. It is time to cut the funding from all areas allowable. The municipalities should follow suit.
Michael E. Covert
Beaufort County Council District 7
Bluffton
Bluffton, why not use the Sheriff’s Office instead of own police?
With all the well-documented recent issues with Bluffton policing and management, why isn’t there a discussion about a better way to go forward?
Here’s a thought:
Why wouldn’t Bluffton want a better trained, equipped and managed program, one that will likely cost less?
The Town of Hilton Head Island already does this.
Here, we retain Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office to deliver “a la carte” policing. The services we need, at the times we need, with the appropriate resources, from a well-trained staff. All under supervision of Sheriiff P.J. Tanner and his well-regarded staff.
No doubt the sheriff would seek to retain the cream of the crop of current Bluffton police officers. So Bluffton would see a mix of familiar faces. But Tanner, as he’s demonstrated, would also use the expanded staff count to seek additional federal grants to further improve training and resources.
Why can’t we start this conversation now? A win-win all around.
Frank Mangan
Hilton Head Island
More important things here than the word ‘plantation’
It is amazing to me that The Island Packet can devote almost four pages to the word “plantation” and its meaning, and not four pages to helping the community understand the make-up and needs of the students in Beaufort County.
The 2019 Beaufort County School District community Report Card provides highlights of some of the district’s key academic improvements and challenges. It states that in 2018, 56% of the students were eligible for free or reduced lunch; 308 students were homeless; 4,892 are ESOL students whose native language is not English. The on-time graduation rate in 2018 was 86%.
The district could use help in the means of more finances, special programs, and more teachers, guidance counselors, and social workers. Why doesn’t the Packet write article about these challenges and what can be done to help?
Why aren’t more caring community members concerned about helping students and their families? Is it because they don’t care; they aren’t aware of the issues; or because it is easier and less expensive to object to the word “plantation” instead of providing a quality education for more than 22,000 students in Beaufort County?
Becky Cederholm
Hilton Head Island
Deny permit for Bay Point Island development
I urge Beaufort County officials and members of the Zoning Board of Appeals to use the discretion granted to them by the Community Development Code and by the expectations of the Comprehensive Plan to deny the proposed project at Bay Point Island a special use permit. Bay Point Island is not a suitable place for a resort development.
The examples of why Bay Point Island is not suitable has been identified numerous times, over and over.
Listen to the experts and do what is right for the environment. This barrier island needs to be protected, permanently, from any development, now or in the future.
Virginia I. Mitchell
St. Helena Island
Hilton Head baseball star’s dream comes true
What a rewarding experience I read in The Island Packet the other day. On another day of news of our country in shambles, it was so nice to learn of Hilton Head Island’s Carmen Mlodzinski, being drafted in Major League baseball’s first round by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
It did not seem that long ago, watching some very good Hilton Head Island High School baseball teams, some dozen years ago, and he was the bat boy on those teams.
Congrats on reaching a goal that many of us only dreamed about. Best of luck!
Ken Ballard
Bluffton
American flag should not fly in darkness
Flying the American Flag is patriotic, however there is a protocol when displaying one.
First, the flag is never to fly in darkness. The flag is to be removed at dusk and flown again at dawn.
The exception is if you provide light during the dark hours where the flag will be totally visable.
On military bases, before the sun goes down, they blow “Colors,” remove the flag, fold it until dawn when the “Colors” are blown again as the flag is raised again. This is done on all military bases where the flag isn’t totally lit up at night.
As patriots and flag hangers, the flag should never, ever fly in darkness.
Lucien Piccioli
Bluffton
Irish-Americans due reparations?
Back in the late 1800s, my great-grandfather came to America from Ireland. He had the equivalent of a secondary school education, which was unusual in those times. No one wanted to hire him because he was Irish. He and many Irish were discriminated against during those times because everyone knew the Irish were “drunks” and “irresponsible.”
He eventually got a job as a maintenance worker at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Because I’m Irish-American, even though it didn’t happen to me, but four generations back, I think I deserve “reparations.”
Valerie Ford
Hilton Head Island
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