Drive-by shooting no way to start new year
By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
No community wants to start the new year off with death. We like to focus instead on new babies, predictions for the year ahead, reflections on the year past.
But Beaufort, like too many communities around the world, had its share. In addition to all the loved ones lost due to natural causes, we had a senseless drive-by shooting of a 14-year-old boy in his own Burton area home, playing video games on New Year’s Day.
By accounts, L.J. Washington was a dynamic member of his soccer community and a positive, cheerful influence to those who knew him. And yet L.J., on Jan. 1, became another statistic in this country’s growing epidemic of deaths by gun violence.
Sheriff’s Office reports said the shooting was a “targeted incident,” and we are left to imagine what that means. “Targeted” or not, a young man with great promise is dead, and those who knew him and loved him are left to wonder why.
While the great debate over gun control and gun violence continues in the political arenas, folks will continue to shake their heads and cry for the lost, while encouraging families to be strong and serve as good role models. In the meantime, someone out there in our community knows something about the shooting. Hopefully they’re working with the investigators to bring some justice for L.J.
Hopefully before it happens to another family.
Heads up, they’re heading back to Columbia
BEAUFORT – Talking about crime, the S.C. General Assembly goes back to work in Columbia this week and one bill still sitting on their desks from last year is H. 3594.
The House passed the bill last year which allows almost anyone to carry a gun, without a permit and without any training. The bill increases penalties for convicted criminals to carry guns but law enforcement agencies are on record opposing certain elements in the right-to-carry legislation.
It’s all part of the Second Amendment debate, the right to carry, and it, like other issues including support for public education and natural resources protection, will be on the Legislature’s agenda.
At least they don’t have to spend time on discussing “Carolina Squats.” The ban against vehicles with elevated front fenders higher than the rear fenders went into effect last summer. No word yet on any arrests.
But this is an election year, so we can only guess what our state elected officials will be spending their time talking about and the changes they’ll make to regulate our lives.
Support your local shrimpers
BEAUFORT – One piece of legislation we can expect to see pretty quickly come across Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk for signing is a declaration of economic disaster dealing with imported shrimp.
Municipal councils along the coast, including Beaufort, Port Royal and Bluffton have already signed proclamations urging the Governor to sign the document, hoping the federal government will impose trade restrictions on foreign shrimpers such as Vietnam and India.
It’s an economic situation that’s developed over the past decades, as the cost of shrimping – once a livelihood for many in this part of the Lowcountry – has increased and driven the local fishermen out of business. You can tell that just by the scarcity of shrimp boats at local docks.
In the meantime, if you want to help keep those photogenic shrimp boats floating, ask your server, when ordering shrimp at a local dining establishment, if it’s local. They’ll probably say yes, whether it is or not, but you can try. Or better yet just support your local seafood dealer.
SC minimum wage sees slight hike
BEAUFORT – A small bit of good news for those employees making minimum wage; Here in the Palmetto State, the minimum increased on Jan. 1 from $9.75 an hour to $10.10.
Nationwide, 22 states have small increases this year compared to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 which has been the same since 2009.
It will be interesting to see if that slight minimum increase in any way will help employers of the “big box” stores planned for retail shopping centers like our Beaufort Station, find employees. Or the plethora of fast-food restaurants that seem to be coming our way.
Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, the Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased. As a columnist, these are her opinions. Her goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.
