Citizens are being badly served by plan to close Pritchardville Convenience Center
On convenience centers
During this extraordinary time of COVID-19 with folks having more time to “clean house” with bags of unwanted items and trash stacking up, there will certainly be several trips made to one of Beaufort County’s convenience centers.
And that’s why they’re called that: they are convenient.
The convenience centers are trash and recycling drop-off stations that are open to Beaufort County residents. But Beaufort County Council’s decision to close the Pritchardville Convenience Center on Gibbet Road on Dec. 31 will be a disservice for citizens living in that area.
This decision will deprive residents of the adequate suitability of a convenience center for their trash disposal, which falls under county operations and is billed on the property tax bills of homeowners.
Beaufort County government exists to serve the people of Beaufort County, unincorporated or otherwise, so that all of its citizens may enjoy and appreciate a protected quality of life in a natural coastal environment.
The decision to close the Pritchardville Convenience Center is a dire mistake that will result in the unwanted consequences of trash accumulating on our roadsides.
Pritchardville, especially in the spots of unincorporated areas that are designated as being in the town of Bluffton, is growing by leaps and bounds.
The citizens who live in this rural area need a larger and improved convenience center, suitably nearby, to replace what we have now before it is completely closed down.
Jean Tanner, Bluffton
On the Gullah community
The recent Island Packet article titled “What’s going to be left for us?” captured the heartfelt concerns of Tressa Govan and other Native Islanders like myself who are against the Town of Hilton Head infringing on our rights to preserve Black-owned property for future generations.
We stand up against the Highway 278 expansion project that will rip away part of the Gullah community. We stand up against years of injustice that Native Islanders have endured at the hands of others who wanted our land and who — one way or another — have managed to take it.
Our land represents who we are as a people.
It has been passed on from one generation to another.
The current plan to bulldoze through our community is unacceptable, and the endless cycle of the wealthy constantly taking away from the poor and vulnerable must stop.
The expansion of the Hilton Head Airport has also encroached on the Baygall community, and there are actually plans to tear down the historic St. James Baptist Church, which is more than 100 years old, to enhance tourism!
These actions are unsettling and repulsive.
When will the infringement on the island’s Black community stop?
After years of losing hundreds of acres natives now own just a small portion of the island we call home.
How much more will be taken away from us?
Hilton Head Island is where our roots are.
We call on the Town of Hilton Head to revise all current and future plans that negatively impact the Gullah community of Hilton Head.
In the words of the Gullah language, “Da lan be all oona got.”
“Our land is all we have.”
Yolawnda Cohen-McKinney, Montgomery Village, MD
Yolawnda Cohen-McKinney is a Native Islander. Her mother, Louise Miller Cohen, is the founder of the Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 2:26 PM.