The people of South Carolina approve of marijuana, but don’t have the power to get it

We don’t really have a democracy’s powers

Back when I was just a simple country boy in high school in a small town in Kansas, I was taught that in a democracy, the people had control over how their government worked. Said control required that the people could enact laws that they desired that their representatives wouldn’t enact for them, that the people could change the laws that their representatives wouldn’t change, and that they could replace any representative who displeased them after election. The power to write laws was called initiative, the power to change was called referendum, and the power to remove was called recall.

As far as I can tell, we residents of South Carolina do not have the authority to take any of these actions. Therefore, South Carolina is not a real democracy.

From what I have read, it appears to me that a majority of the people of South Carolina believe that marijuana should be made available to those who could be helped in medical cases, and it should be available for recreational use. They believe there should be no criminal penalty for the sale or distribution of marijuana. It has become clear that our representatives are unwilling to do what we want. If this were a democracy, we could do it ourselves by using our initiative and referendum authorities.

If you searched the internet, you would discover that the majority of U.S. states that have legal marijuana got that access by passing citizen-written laws via initiative.

Please contact both your representative and senators and advise them of your displeasure.

- John Wheeler, Ridgeland

Why should trees that may grow be an issue?

Will somebody please explain to me why the South Carolina Department of Transportation sided with Adams Outdoor Advertising in requiring that two small trees be removed from the median of U.S. 278 when billboards under current law cannot not be erected in Beaufort County to begin with? Just because these small trees might at some indeterminate point in the future block viewing of a billboard that cannot by law be installed to begin with along the highway?

What is this madness that the SCDOT and Adams Outdoor Advertising have foisted on Beaufort County?

- Roger Elmore, Beaufort

South Carolina senators should support voting rights

I had the recent pleasure of driving to North Charleston and Mount Pleasant to deliver petitions to the offices of Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott. With the help of local colleagues in the Bluffton and Beaufort area, we collected nearly 500 signatures from citizens urging the senators to support the second version of the For The People Act (S1, H1). Despite Republicans in the Senate refusing to support the first version, it will come up again soon for congressional action.

The bill is focused on protecting Americans’ right to vote. It would make voting and voting registration easier, strengthen mail in voting and protect against deceptive practices. This new law is critical in the face of multiple red states passing laws to restrict voting rights. While those states justify their efforts by alleging fraud in the 2020 election, multiple federal courts, the Supreme Court and Donald Trump’s own attorney general ruled that there was no fraud. Most secretaries of state have also attested to the extraordinary precision of conducting this election with record-breaking turnout.

The truth is that these state voter-restriction laws target citizens of color in an undemocratic effort to preserve white, conservative power in future elections.

- Jerry Whalen, Bluffton

There’s no real traffic problem in Hilton Head

I do not think it necessary to build a six-lane bridge to accommodate the early morning rush hour or for Saturdays when tourists arrive. It is a lot of taxpayer money and terrible for the native islanders on the north end. I also believe the island is strained right now with the number of vacationers, and they still get here just fine with the current bridge.

In addition, I am from the Northeast and relocated to Hilton Head in 2016 for retirement. Being from the Northeast, I am well aware of rush hour traffic congestion in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, which is far worse than the 90-minute period for morning commuters and Saturday backups here. While it is frustrating at times, it seems to work out for commuters who want to work in these areas.

Finally, there is absolutely no assurance, and in my opinion, there isn’t going to be any resultant relief of congestion if the current, expensive proposed changes are made to the bridges and corridor. If the ingress were made wider, more will come. And eventually, the island will be “constructed out” to the point where many of the current contractors coming during morning rush hour will no longer be coming across the bridge in droves in the mornings.

We should simply upgrade or replace the current bridges.

- Fred Reichenbach, Hilton Head