Young people need more from Beaufort if they’re going to call it home | Letters
My hometown of Beaufort literally has no free resources for the youth.
Even county resources that are funded by tax dollars require you to have a membership or pay a daily rate. The skating rink is gone, both movie theaters are gone, the county water slide abandoned, and Beaufort Fun Park is closed.
Ribaut Lanes closed as well, but luckily Love House Ministries was able to acquire it and reopen it as Love House Community Bowling Center. Public transportation for people who live on one end of the county and work on the other is cut, and the crime rate is very high, according to NeighborhoodScout.com.
The younger generations are leaving, not because they want to, but because they have to.
Access to livable wages are slim to none, but the cost of living is through the roof. The median gross rent for Beaufort, according to census.gov, is $1,157, and the average child care cost is $866 per month, but the per capita income is only $36,306, or $3,025.50 per month. And that’s before taxes, health insurance and retirement. Plus you still have to provide for your family.
Beaufort is the prime example of what small town gentrification looks like. They are more concerned with generating tourism revenue than providing livable wages for citizens.
They rezoned Polk Village and displaced the residents for scenic views of the marsh. Pretty soon Beaufort will be nothing more than Parris Island, the air station, the Naval Hospital and a town full of retirees.
Patrick W. Young III
Beaufort
Curbside trash, recycling pickup for Beaufort County a terrible idea
As a resident of Beaufort County for over 20 years, I write to register my strong objection to the recommendation that the county use a curbside pickup system for trash and recycling.
Although this has not yet come to pass, you report that the County Council “will now consider a revised version” of the proposal that was to take effect by 2020.
I see the blight of neighborhoods that have curbside pickup of trash containers. Many of the households on Fripp Island are rentals whose short-term occupants do not follow instructions and would leave trash containers untended.
Your whole article seems skewed to consider the issue on the basis that closing the convenience centers would save money. But we did not move to the Beaufort area to save money. We moved for the beauty of the place and are willing to support increased taxes to preserve and expand that beauty – note the recent article on spending money to refurbish of Hunting Island. Although expenses for Hunting Island come from county and/or state funds, the principle is the same: Preserve and expand the quality of life.
Curbside pickup of trash equates to a degradation of the quality of life.
Charles Davis
Fripp Island
Time to stop the Bay Point development plan
As I write this, I’m looking out my window across Port Royal Sound to Bay Point Island and wondering why this pristine, environmentally critical place is once again threatened by reckless development.
This 300-plus acre island is accessible only by boat or seaplane, has no utility or sewer infrastructure, and is subject to significant and varying erosion. I’ve seen old plats of the north end of Tybee Island where parts of streets and lots are now underwater; not much of a future, and Tybee is much larger than Bay Point.
If a catastrophic storm occurs, Beaufort County (meaning us) might be responsible for removing any wreckage remaining. The county (us) would also be bound to provide fire, police, and EMS support at great expense. Emergency response time is estimated at one hour, so don’t have a heart attack on Bay Point!
The development would need 10 septic fields, along with water-borne supply trips and waste disposal. The facilities would use 33,000 gallons of water per day from aquifers, aggravating depletion of them and saltwater intrusion.
Also, this proposal would badly affect the approximately 5,000 (often more) shorebirds that depend on Bay Point for nesting and “refueling” on their long migration journeys. It’s their best refuge for miles around. Sea turtles also nest there for the same reason, and it’s an important Gullah-Geechee fishing resource.
So, what could possibly go wrong? Everything! No amount of paper shuffling can justify approving this senseless resort proposal; it’s time to shoot it down.
Henry V. Sanders
Hilton Head Island
‘Plantation’ essay a powerful message
Thank you for publishing the op-ed by Miss Isabella Miller in Sunday’s paper.
It is no wonder that she was awarded the National Silver Medal by the Scholastic Art and Writing Award Committee. Her piece was eloquent and powerful.
The word “plantation” must sting the heart of every Black person who lives outside the gates.
Hearing the voice of a native islander should inspire the debate about removing the word “plantation” from local communities out of respect for the Black community that existed here long before the developers arrived and marginalized these residents.
Miss Miller’s thoughtful and persuasive essay was worth reading ... and reading again. Kudos to her and to the paper for bringing a voice of reason to this issue.
Terri Reutter
Sun City
Stores should demand masks
The politicization and consequent inconsistent actions to the COVID-19 pandemic have failed. There has been enough blame all around! So here is an action that our chain grocery stores and big box stores can do as a public service to protect their employees and reduce the community spread of the virus.
I appeal to chain stores, such as Publix, Bi-Lo, Kroger, Food Lion and big box stores like Walmart, Target, Costco, Sam’s Club, etc., to agree to have a policy: “No mask, No entry!”
They should supply masks to those who do not have them.
Why has it been acceptable in the past to have a policy of “ No shirt, No shoes, No service”?
It will take courage for these companies to do this. It will not hurt their “bottom line” if they all participate. People need groceries and other essential goods.
All companies that do this will be lauded for their efforts to protect their workers and the communities they serve.
While I contend their has been too little done too late in most instances, I believe the cooperative efforts of these companies will do a major public service to tamp down the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
These actions will save many from infection and enormous medical bills and it will save lives and the anguish to loved ones.
A. Lanny Kraus
Beaufort
Protect the natives of Hilton Head
As a native of Hilton Head Island, it is imperative that the natives, who are mostly of African descent, are protected.
Long before the lavish resorts, there were land-owning, self-sustaining Black families with businesses. Our land has been pillaged over the years by wealthy resort industries and out-of-towners.
The lack of resources for the true natives have been overlooked and must be addressed to sustain what our ancestors built. Where is the assistance for those generations of Black families who are losing their valuable property?
Hilton Head is America’s favorite resort island but it will always be my home.
Latoya Hamilton
Charlotte, North Carolina
Stand against mob rule and chaos
Please take a moment and ask yourself, as an American where do you stand? Not as a Black American, White American, Hispanic American, Asian or Native American. Not as a Republican, Democrat or Independent. Ask as an American where do you stand?
Do you stand with those who are defacing and destroying public property, burning local businesses to the ground? Do you stand with those who are hijacking city streets, establishing autonomous zones and calling for the abolishment of law enforcement agencies? Do you stand for mob rule and chaos in our beloved country?
The United States of America is under attack from within. I stand for defending our nation from domestic enemies. I stand for Public safety and tranquility. I stand for freedom for all. The late Frank Sinatra sang, “The children in the playground, the faces that I see, all races and religions, that’s America to me.”
America has its problems. It is not a perfect place. Working together as a community and holding our elected officials accountable is a common sense approach to creating a better country for all.
God help us if we let mob rule and chaos burn this great nation to the ground.
Donna P. Bryant
Bluffton
Democrats using ‘systemic racism’ as smokescreen for their own failings
The notion that white America is my monolithic enemy is utterly insane.
A country of “bigots” wouldn’t send a Somalia-born Muslim to the House of Representatives and elect an African-American president, twice.
“Systemic racism” can’t explain why 50 million migrants of all ethnicities choose to call America home today, why Asian Americans earn more than typical white households, why black immigrants perform better than U.S.-born Blacks, and, as Heather Mac Donald wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “a police officer is 18 1/2 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer.”
But toning down racial animosity is bad politics for Democrats. They need smokescreens to conceal the party’s long history of racial injustice. From Andrew Jackson’s slave trails
o the m Crow laws; from Woodrow Wilson’s KKK revival to FDR’s exclusion of Blacks from New Deal programs, Black lives were ruined at the hands of a party that continues to disparage Blacks as “Uncle Toms” or “ain’t black” if they refuse to drink the Kool-Aid.
More importantly, blaming “systemic racism” enables Democrats to hide their policy failures. Joe Biden was the architect of the 1984 War on Drugs and the 1994 crime bill that led to mass incarceration of black men. Today, he campaigns on racism as “a white man’s problem.” The Obama-Biden era created the “Ferguson Effect.”
Nothing will change under a Biden presidency, because he is the “White Man,” and he is the “System.”
Xiaodan Li
Hilton Head Island
Trump lacks business sense
My previous letter addressed our genius-in-charge as he mishandled procurement of vital medical supplies. This one deals with the same genius handling the small-business shutdown. A brief discussion of the least disruptive, lowest cost approach follows:
“To control the pandemic spread, non-essential businesses are to be fully or partially shut down. Rather than layoffs, businesses are to maintain staff and pay other necessary expenses. Those costs, less any revenue, are to be submitted to their bank for recovery. The banks use their borrowing capability from the Federal Reserve to replenish their funds, while the funds authorized by Congress are sent directly to the Fed.”
The procedural impact: 1) Instead of the chaos resulting from tens of millions of individual checks, the Treasury makes electronic transfers to the Federal Reserve as needed. 2) The interaction between businesses and their banks is undisturbed, facilitating quick and easy validation of claims. 3) There is no surge and wasted expense in new or expanded government functions such as unemployment processing, or endless verification of qualifications. 4) The funds intended to assist small business go directly to small businesses on a dollar for dollar basis and with complete traceability (unlike the $1.5 trillion already spent with no oversight).
The human impact: Small businesses and their employees, who depend on income continuity, never miss a paycheck. Wasn’t that the critical problem facing the nation?
Instead of taking charge, President Donald Trump stood mute while events overwhelmed him, with the ultimate loser being the nation’s economic well-being.
Richard Wallace
Hilton Head Island
Picture this on the coronavirus pandemic
As of now, we have lost over 125,000 family members in the United States to COVID-19.
The graves of those lost, laid side by side, would form a solemn row over 140 miles long.
Visualize driving from Hilton Head, south to Jacksonville, FL, or north to Columbia, SC. That row of lost souls – laid alongside the road – would be with you for the entire trip.
Kent Collins
Hilton Head Island
Why did it take an outside voice?
It’s amazing that it takes the reported comment of a PGA Tour golfer to trigger the authorities to get off their collective duffs and even get to “consider” a no-brainer masking requirement.
David Gibb
Hilton Head Island
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 9:16 AM.