To the Editor:
Recently, I saw a family of geese with several babies following them around. I noticed that one of the babies kept tripping and falling behind the rest of the family. So, I stopped to see what was going on. Then I realized that it was tangled in the plastic netting that the contractor put in all our yards.
I don’t know if you have dealt with this plastic in your yard (of poorly growing sod) but it is a real pain. I propose that as a neighborhood, we go back on the contractor to remove all this netting from our yards or ask them to pay someone to come in and remove it.
We are in a fragile wildlife area and yet the contractor is getting away with filling yards full of plastic? This needs to be addressed with building codes. We are trying to rid our area of plastics that endanger our wildlife, yet even our own yards are dangerous. The plastic is just the right size to make a deep cut into a child’s toe – or yours.
Chapin Burgess
Bluffton
To the Editor:
Sanctuary cities refer to municipal jurisdictions that limit cooperation with the federal government’s efforts to enforce immigration law (Wikipedia).
The question is, should sanctuary cities exist and, if so, what is their long-term impact? Those sanctioning the harboring of illegals are quick to defend their position, saying as human beings, undocumented immigrants have a God-given right to be here. They are protecting families, fleeing wretched conditions in their homeland.
Last year, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed bill 54 (SB54), requiring state law enforcement to disregard certain Federal laws while protecting illegal aliens. In Oakland, Calif., the mayor warned illegal aliens in February of planned arrests by ICE, endangering the public and federal officers.
Those against the sanctuary concept argue that states cannot pick and choose which laws to obey, helping people who are breaking the law.
Further, those jurisdictions are defying immigration laws by not cooperating with federal agents while protecting undocumented criminals from deportation, leading to more crime and expense to our citizens.
In March, Orange County, Calif., supervisors approved a resolution against SB54 for those very reasons.
Quite a sensitive dilemma for our country, yet our gridlocked Congress seems unable to resolve this dangerous national disagreement.
As parents, when our children disobeyed our rules they were denied their allowance. Likewise, Congress must consider denying states their “allowance,” meaning federal funds and grants when they disobey the law.
Protecting our citizen’s freedom and safety while upholding the Rule of Law is fundamental to the very tenets of our country’s Constitution.
Earle Everett
Hilton Head Island
To the Editor:
Recently the Lighthouse Chorus, the Hilton Head Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, and the New River Harmony Barbershop Chorus of Sun City held a benefit concert for the Volunteers In Medicine of both Hilton Head and Bluffton.
As a former surgeon and current volunteer at VIM, it was an honor for me to be a part of this program, which also was a tribute to Dr. Jack McConnell (founder of VIM).
We of both of these choruses wish to express our thanks and heartfelt gratitude to the Hilton Head Presbyterian Church for donating their facility for this event. In addition, we thank all of those who supported this event with their pocketbooks, making it a financial success.
Dr. James Baden
President
Hilton Head Lighthouse Chorus
To the Editor:
It amazes me, with all the talk of celebrating servicemen and women, how a county and a town full of veterans fails to initiate functions to honor those veterans who have served and are serving.
My issue is also with veterans’ organizations that fail to get the word out. This whole month should be about reminding our fellow Americans of the sacrifices we all have given for your freedoms.
We say thank you, just to make us feel good. We are the forgotten and many people look at us with disdain. We wrote a blank check to this country, and for many of us our oath never expires, the lack of real appreciation is stunning.
Please try to do better. We deserve it.
Tony Solomon
Gunnery Sgt. USMC, Ret.
Bluffton
(Editor’s Note: National Military Appreciation Month is May 1-31, so designated by Congressional resolution in 1999.)
To the Editor:
I greatly appreciate the thoughtful and non-judgmental responses to my letter regarding the puzzling support of white, Christian evangelicals (WCE) for POTUS.
Some of my closest Christian friends have explained their own support of POTUS as that of Mr. Taylor. I understand that the taking of any life should concern every Christian, and why this one conviction would influence a person’s choice for President.
My puzzlement is why these convictions do not carry over to issues of morality, race, civility, honesty, etc., ad infinitum.
I encourage both Mr. Taylor and Ms. Capuano to google the words “white Christian evangelicals” and read all the essays and editorials listed, many by conservative Christian organizations. (These same writings cite numerous polls, past and present, that show less than half of non-white evangelicals support our current President.)
Thus my intentional use of the word “white” and one of the very points I was trying to make. (See Galatians 3:28)
Very few of the leaders of evangelical groups are speaking out against the myriad positions and statements of POTUS that only the devil could love and support. And as my Christian friends have told me, they (like Mr. Taylor) would vote for President Trump again today, without hesitation or reservation.
The only conclusion I can come to is that Roe V. Wade trumps (no pun intended) any and all other issues. I understand, but do not agree, that this gives any politician a free pass on everything else.
To me, this equates to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer described as “cheap grace.” As POTUS has famously bragged, he has never done anything that called for repentance or forgiveness.
Nonetheless, he is my President, too. Know that I pray every day that God would give POTUS and every other politician the wisdom and courage to do what is right and do it in the right way.
Ken Reinhardt
Bluffton
