You don’t get to hijack the word
You don’t get to
Hijack the word
For your bone spur
Draft dodger
Humpty Dumpty
His coward fat boys
And all his foreign
Donor friends
Patriot
Was my best friend’s
Twin brother
Nineteen years old
Killed in Viet Nam
Patriot
Was my father in the
Second World War
Shot down in a
Foreign land
Patriot
Was my great, great
Grandfather
In the Civil War
Defending the family farm
Patriots
Were my ancestors
From more than two
Centuries past
Surviving in this
Primitive land
Cemeteries full
You don’t get to
Hijack the word
— Carol Conner
County abandons Hilton Head congestion relief
On May 27 at 6 p.m. (with a caucus at 4 p.m.) in the Hilton Head Library, County Council [was to] vote on a plan to try to appease the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) in order to retain [its] promised $120 million in Corridor funds. Its resolution proposes several things:
It spends all our 2018 Tax Referendum funding on two new eastbound bridges and connections, including Pinckney Island connections, ending at roughly Windmill Harbor (WH), as well as retention and improvement of the Windmill Harbor traffic signal with mast arms. These will cost $311.6 million and are to be completed by Dec. 31, 2031, over 13 years after our 2018 Referendum.
This at least solves the Mackay span safety concerns, and kills the mega-bridge, but it is a bait and switch from what we were led to believe included congestion relief for the Hilton Head work force and residents. If they had stuck to their promises, and only repaired or replaced the aging span, at least $70 million would have been available for that much needed congestion relief work and could have addressed the congestion issues caused by [three or four] clogged traffic lights and failed merge problems.
But there is more: The proposed resolution binds County taxpayers to cover any overage over the $311.6 million. Also, county taxpayers must reimburse the SIB’s funding (could be up to $120 million) if all components of the project do not complete by Dec.r 31, 2031. Looking ahead 6½ years, that seems highly risky.
There is still more: I now detect that the 2018 Corridor promises that were broken will be packaged as sweeteners into a proposed 2026 Tax Referendum. The theory seems to be that the County needs the Hilton Head vote for their 2026 Referendum, and that Hilton Head citizens will not remember the bait and switch, and terrible back-room planning that systematically cut citizens out of the Corridor process after their money was collected.
The thing I have a hard time understanding is the complete failure of most of Hilton Head Town Council to assert itself to assure that Hilton Head got a detailed and quantitative master plan for the Corridor, a fair share of the funds we contributed, and the respectful treatment of a large number of citizens who worked hard for solutions. It seems that the Mayor and Town Staff were more interested in appeasing County Council than solving our problems.
— Steven Baer, Beaufort County Council, retired
Communication and civility
I agree with a reader’s letter (May 22 edition) from a Mr. Jim Beck disagreeing with a previous reader’s view on the rights of transgender people. What I find sad and disturbing is that he can’t just express a differing personal view on the issue. He feels compelled to then attack and insult the other reader calling him “a true delusional liberal.”
Today, we face many difficult decisions with conflicting viewpoints. To come to any final agreement requires respectful listening and some compromise. When you insult the other person the conversation and hope of finding middle ground ends. In fact, you move farther apart.
Insulting or attacking the other person rather than a logical refutation of their position indicates either a lack of a well reasoned argument or a lack of intelligence and wisdom.
This is the primary debate technique used by our current “leader” and “trickling down” like toxic sludge through our society.
In conversations, people state their political and social positions as facts. They don’t start the conversation with “I think” or I believe.” One makes stating an opposing view a rebuttal and a confrontation. The other opens the door to discussion.
— Tom Downs, Cat Island
re: Veterans’ benefits
Mr. McCombs, I want to give thanks and congratulate you on publishing Larry Dandridge’s articles on the benefits available to veterans. This service is much needed in order to educate the many thousands of non-informed veterans who desperately need the help.
— Joe Rossi, 100% disabled veteran
