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<p><strong>Woman’s love of Beaufort redeemed</strong></p>
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<p>I love Beaufort, because of the people. My daughter and I had been planning for a grand wedding for the last year and a half. We wanted to shop local businesses and with excitement asked Annamaria at Beaufort Bakery and Cafe to help us create cupcakes for the special day.</p>
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<p>We worked with Nancy at KC Mike's BBQ to cater the dinner for the garden wedding, and Laura at Laura’s Carolina Florist in Saint Helena Island was contacted to create all the bouquets and flowers for us. In addition Delger Waste, Carolina Weddings, and MXM productions were hired for their services at the wedding.</p>
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<p>Almost all of the guests attending the wedding were from different states around the country, so I wanted to showcase the Beaufort community by putting together baskets that included a map of the area, a copy of The Island News paper, treats, and a welcome letter including a gift certificate to Kazoobie Kazoos in Beaufort.</p>
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<p>The unthinkable happened the day before the wedding. The groom and his immediate family told us they tested positive for COVID-19. Devastated by the news, I started making calls to each of the businesses to let them know.</p>
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<p>I could not believe the compassion each of the owners or representatives displayed when I told them the news. I expected each to tell me it was the day before the wedding and too late to cancel anything. However, every business that was scheduled to help either credited, refunded, or went above and beyond anything we could ask for when canceling the wedding.</p>
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<p>While my daughter was devastated she knew this was just a bump in the road of a lifetime of love, and one day they will look back and laugh.</p>
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<p>I am writing this letter because I am so proud of my community and very thankful I live here! I want to thank each and every one of these business owners for changing the difficult calls into customers-for-life calls. I want everyone to love these businesses not only for the wonderful food, and services but also for how they treat their customers.</p>
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<p>Annamaria, I will be by next week for that wonderful pimento cheese sandwich, Nancy save me some of your famous mac ‘n’ cheese, Laura I will be calling you soon for more flower arrangements! Thank you Beaufort, each of our guests went back to their states knowing what a great community our family calls home!</p>
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<p><em>– Jodie Martinez and the Martinez Family, St. Helena Island</em><br></p>
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<p><br><strong>Defending Dickson’s Op-Ed</strong></p>
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<p>It was most refreshing to find an article from a conservative included among your Voices last week, since the three regular contributors each week are all liberals and I had, in fact, come to believe they were on your payroll.</p>
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<p>It was also disturbing to read the letters to the editor this week. One writer suggests that Jim Dickson’s opinion and philosophy of government did not belong “in your paper – or in any paper widely read by the public.” He actually suggested that the public debate about “government-funded social programs is healthy,” yet suggests that Mr. Dickson’s opinion should not be heard!</p>
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<p>Another writer accuses Mr. Dickson of “fear-mongering, with quotes about socialism from A. Hitler, F. Castro, H. Chavez, and J. Stalin.” All of these were heads of a socialist government and their quotes were very insightful.</p>
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<p>Then there’s the statement about the Social Security and Medicare programs being socialistic, with no mention that both programs were instigated and passed by the Democrats, with all sorts of promises as to how the money would be in a designated, tax-free fund to assure that we senior citizens would have a guaranteed income to survive when we retired. All promises were broken! And nobody mentioned that we paid into both Social Security and Medicare during our working years, as did our employers, and we continue to pay Medicare premiums out of our Social Security checks every month.</p>
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<p>For yet another writer to suggest that “I guess ‘fiscal conservative’ means he doesn’t want to spend a dime to help someone else” is beyond insulting, in my opinion. Be assured that Mr. Dickson and his neighbors give generously of their time, talent, and treasure to make our community a better place to live. To quote Mr. Dickson in his op-ed, “It might be worthwhile to take a look at the history of socialism and communism.”</p>
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<p><em>– Edie Rodgers, Beaufort</em></p>
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