Hilton Head Mayor John McCann wrong on police protection | Letters

Your recent article about Beaufort County possibly assessing a fee to the property owners of Hilton Head Island states that the fee could be $101 for single-family home owners.

Once again, Mayor John McCann has failed to protect property owners. He has eliminated $3 million from the new budget to pay the county for police protection.

Is he going to pay each property owner for the added cost to be assessed by the county?

This is just the latest in his failures as mayor. He has a long history of taking care of himself, going back to his first-class ticket to fly to Italy to establish a sister city, which has garnered us nothing.

I understand he will not be trying for re-election. He would not stand a chance.

Providing for the security of citizens is the first responsibility of our government. Why try to re-invent the wheel? If it is not broken, leave it alone.

Francis E. Anderson

Hilton Head Island

Sign on bridge in wrong place

Beaufort County has left an electric sign/message board in the emergency lane of the Cowan Creek bridge on Sea Island Parkway for months.

It blocks the side lane, meant for emergencies, preventing use if some motorist has a problem.

If this sign-on-wheels was a parked or abandoned vehicle it would have been ticketed and towed away for public safety.

The potential lawsuit against the county if someone should hit this obstruction is tremendous. Indeed, wherever the sign is installed, the county should make certain it is well off the right of way, safely installed off the road and emergency areas.

Joe Rochefort

St. Helena Island

A community needs this voice

Over 30-plus years, I worked for five daily newspapers, big city to small town, all very different. They had this in common: Every one had a David Lauderdale.

Oh, they were no relation to the senior editor/columnist who says he is going to retire at the end of this month after 43 years with The Island Packet. But each was the soul of his or her newspaper, its memory bank, its conscience, its glue.

Talented editors and reporters are by definition people who walk into a new situation, size up today’s news and distill the facts for readers. The David Lauderdales are the people who can put today’s news in the context of yesterday.

These are the rare news people who have not only a sense of this time and place, but a sense of history. It takes a David Lauderdale to recall, in a recent review of The Packet’s history, that Hilton Head Island once was snidely referred to as “Cirrhosis Shores.” A newspaper needs someone with institutional memory, someone to know that this recently deceased person once was a key figure in this community’s development. A newspaper needs someone who can speak to – and for – the community.

Longtime readers are more comfortable with a newspaper because they are comfortable with its David Lauderdale, one who simultaneously gives newcomers a grounding in their adopted home.

I still fondly remember the David Lauderdales of my newspaper career. None was replaced easily, if at all. Such will be the case here.

Joe Distelheim

Hilton Head Island

America today at tipping point

It is apparent to all that the profession of journalism is dead.

Not so long ago, we respected journalists for their wisdom, hard work and fair mindedness. Unfortunately, those three attributes no longer exist.

Journalists’ wisdom is misplaced by hatred for anything Trump. Their hard work is replaced by a herd mentality and their fair mindedness certainly no longer exists.

In doubt? It is suggested that those on the left spend 30 minutes a day watching Fox News and those on the right to watch NBC, CBS, ABC, CNBC, MSNBC or read any newspaper other than the Washington Times or the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal.

Only then will both sides really understand why we have so few true journalists. To those of us who live in Beaufort County, we only have to read our local paper to find how left-leaning they are. Frankly, I live for the day when the Packet/Gazette says something nice about President Donald Trump or Republicans. Dreamer!

America is at a tipping point. The current unrest is a carefully-orchestrated attempt to fundamentally change our culture and greatly diminish the power of capitalism that has helped make America great.

Joe Biden has promised to “fundamentally change America” if elected president. President Barack Obama promised that also and look where that got us.

Every general election we are told that, “This one is the most important election of our time.” While the others were important, the one this November, without question, is.

Choose wisely.

Tom Hatfield

Hilton Head Island

Trump’s USA going backward

Current presidential guidance on COVID: Live with it. Don’t wear a mask, social distance, or stay at home. What planet does Donald Trump inhabit? Well more than 100,000 Americans have died. Canada, and the EU have controlled the outbreak. We are exceptional, OK, but in the wrong direction.

Far from MAGA, we have the most COVID-19 cases (3.5 million); most deaths (138,000); and most unemployed.

Trump’s lie that “ 99% (of COVID cases) are totally harmless” is contradicted by facts: 20% are hospitalized, 4.5% die. South Carolina new cases have increased 999% since reopening.

Taking Trump’s lead, Sunbelt GOP governors’ reopening has caused this. In a panicked attempt to reignite the economy to brag about it for political ends, they endangered the health of millions of Americans.

As the COVID pandemic rages, what is Trump doing?

He continues to attempt to destroy Obamacare in court. This will cancel or make unaffordable insurance for 23 million citizens and it repeals mandatory coverage of pre-existing conditions.

But, you’re on Medicare? That covers only 80% of your bill. Co-insurance is private and they will cancel you due to significant pre-existing conditions, or make it so expensive you can’t afford it. That will leave you paying 20% of a $300,000 COVID hospitalization. That’s only step one. Medicare is on Sen. Mitch McConnell’s GOP chopping block after that.

In a global health crisis, the GOP doubles down on taking away health care. How can they even begin to justify this?

John MacLaurin DO

Hilton Head Island

Find the facts on EU decision

In response to the recent letter which avers that we’ve become a pariah with regard to Europe because the EU banned Americans from entry into Europe. Some might hear of the EU decision and think the that EU ban was purely protective of the health of Europe’s citizens.

Do facts support that conclusion? Here’s how the U.S. compares to some European countries (number of coronavirus deaths per 100,000 population): US 30, UK 56, Italy 55, France 43, Spain 58, Belgium 82, Germany 10, Sweden 54.

The U.S. is not handling this pandemic badly in comparison to many of the countries in the EU, so one has to wonder what is actually behind the EU decision.

It’s entirely possible the EU decision is political. Your letter writer lays the blame for the ban on President Donald Trump and says he has led a failed national response to this crisis. This is exactly the intent of the EU’s decision and it is not supported by facts. Most of the policies responding to the pandemic have been left, rightly so, to the governors of each state. Some did much better than others.

It is helpful to do research and try to discern motives behind actions. In the months leading up to a crucial election in America, we need to educate ourselves as much as possible with real facts. Sometimes we can find those facts in the paragraphs below misleading headlines.

Kate Keep

Hilton Head Island

Trump, Graham, DeVos must go

President Donald Trump and his secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, want schools to fully reopen regardless of what the health experts are telling them. His economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, said “going back to school isn’t that hard.”

Maybe the three of them can for a week or so sit in a fully-reopened second-grade class in a Miami Dade elementary school. Trump may be able to handle the second grade level – after all he has bragged that he can draw a clock and tell the difference between an elephant and a skunk. Bravo. But I don’t know if DeVos is up to the task. Her only qualification for being the secretary of education is she is a Trump campaign contributor.

Isn’t it wonderful that our senator, Lindsey Graham, fully supports Trump commuting the sentence of the convicted felon Roger Stone? Graham calls himself a lawyer. A lawyer who doesn’t support the rule of law. Maybe the University of South Carolina should re-evaluate its school of law.

When Trump had the military use tear gas to clear Lafayette Park of peaceful protesters so that he could have a photo op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, did Graham speak out against Trump’s racism and bigotry? No, he was evasive and only questioned the need for a photo op. But he did seem to defend the use of tear gas to supposedly get order.

Nov. 3 is the time for us to rid this country of the Trump/DeVos/Graham virus.

Tony Amadeo

Sun City

Why you must vote Republican

The upcoming election is not about President Donald Trump or Joe Biden, but about the future of our democracy.

The left has made their intentions abundantly clear. They want to give illegal immigrants voting rights, which will give the Democrats millions of votes in future elections and pretty much guarantee that there will not ever be a Republican in the White House. They will come for your weapons and turn this great nation into a socialist country.

Independents, moderate Democrats and Republicans who don’t like Trump need to consider the consequences of voting for a Democrat in this presidential election.

Sonia Geiss

Hilton Head Island

Take a stand on equality for all

Drafted by Alice Paul, the Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced to Congress in 1923, nearly 100 years ago. Now 156 countries have equal rights for women in their Constitutions. The United States does not!

The only right women have in the U.S. Constitution is the right to vote. The battles women fight every day for equal access to pay, education, and health care would become obsolete if their rights were protected by the Constitution.

Every vote we cast when we go to the polls is an important vote, but now, more than ever, it is important to vote for candidates running for office locally, at the state level and at the federal level who overtly state their support for women’s equality.

Candidates running for the South Carolina legislature as well as Congress have gone on record as to their platform on the ERA. Some have said they will not support women’s equality, others have said they will.

Be an informed voter. In addition to other sources, the League of Women Voters has interviewed candidates and placed their responses on VOTE411.org.

The Equal Rights Amendment guarantees equality and respect for all people under the law. Equality for all, y’all!

Barbara Hammes

Hilton Head Island

Silent majority should speak up

The vocal minority seems to be getting its way. It might be time for the silent majority to speak up. I wonder how someone could make that happen.

Wayne Wicker

Beaufort

Please don’t go

Regarding David Lauderdale’s leaving us for semi-“retirement,” say it ain’t so.

Without him, things will never be the same around here. “Miss” is hardly the word. The island needs to thank David for his interest and activism, his intellect and passion and craft ... and always the marvelous writing.

The man has kept journalism alive. What a full, honorable, significant career. To David, congratulations! But please don’t go.

Curry Kirkpatrick

Hilton Head Island