To the Editor:
County Administrator Gary Kubic retired seven months ago. He hand-picked his replacement, Josh Gruber, who serves in an interim capacity.
At the March 26 Beaufort County Council meeting, I listened to endless reasons why Josh Gruber has earned a permanent position. In the packed room, the praise was noteworthy.
I listened to Gary Kubic, Mayor Keyserling, Mayor Bennett, three fire chiefs, the Beaufort/Jasper Water Authority, Sea Islands Commission, Emergency Management, and many more, including constituents, who are taxpayers.
The Council was urged repeatedly to remove the word “interim” from Gruber’s title. He has earned the public trust and confidence. He knows our community and local issues. He was trained by his predecessor.
Gruber is raising his family here and will make decisions that support local families. He got us through two hurricanes and is the respected face of Beaufort County. He was praised for his integrity, fairness and expertise.
The County spent $70,000 in the first executive search and failed. Gruber was a finalist. Now they want to start over and hire another search firm.
Why? At what cost to the taxpayers? Another $25,000.
As one of the fire chiefs said, that $95,000 could have been used to hire three additional firemen.
Mr. Gruber is already doing the job with the support of the community. I urge our Council to be more transparent, to do the right thing, and to be more fiscally responsible.
Edwina “Eddy” Hoyle
Bluffton
To the Editor:
Wreaths Across America Beaufort, a 501(c)(3) organization, would like to thank Luther’s Rare & Well Done Restaurant in Beaufort for their very generous donation at a Feb. 17 fundraiser to help insure that the veterans at Beaufort National Cemetery will have a wreath placed on their headstone for Christmas as we remember their lives.
Each December, on National Wreaths Across America Day, the mission to “Remember, Honor and Teach” is carried out by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as more than 1,400 additional locations in all 50 U.S. states, at sea and abroad.
Money raised locally will be used to provide wreaths at Beaufort National Cemetery on Dec. 15, 2018. It is through the charitable donations of fine folks like those at Luther’s who make this event a memorable day for our community.
For further information or to donate, call David Edwards at 912-313-1506 or email him at waabeaufort@outlook.com.
Suzi C. Oliver
Wreaths Across America Beaufort
Board Secretary
To the Editor:
Recently I attended the Beaufort County Council meeting on Hilton Head Island. The main reason I attended was because I wanted to ask this group why they have decided to spend additional taxpayer money looking for a replacement for Gary Kubic.
I simply wanted to know why this has dragged on so long. It is embarrassing for Beaufort County. It screams “We can’t decide so let’s spend more money.”
I was surprised to see the turnout of people who were feeling the same way that were not afraid to speak their mind, people from all walks of life, people who have worked with Josh Gruber, people invested in Beaufort County.
Then I read the response from Mr. Dawson: “an orchestrated charade.” And Mr. Caporale, “a set-up.” You two insulted concerned citizens in the worst way. You should both apologize for these inappropriate statements.
Karen Doughtie
Bluffton
To the Editor:
I am one of the 20 to 30 percent of White Christian Evangelicals (WCE) who do not support the words and actions of POTUS.
To the remaining 70 to 80 percent who do, I would genuinely like to know how you believe in the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, the Shema, 1 Corinthians 13, and the entire letters of James, Peter and John, and continue to support what POTUS says and does?
I have no idea what POTUS believes or thinks. I do know much of what he says and does. From this, I am pretty sure he doesn’t love our neighbors in “s***hole countries,” he is making virtual widows and orphans of the DACA families (and is proud of this work), and he is proud of his sexual exploits.
Here I offer James 1:27: “Pure and undefiled religion before God … is to care for widows and orphans in their troubles and keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
Space won’t accommodate the myriad ways his words and actions are the absolute antithesis of the Fruits of the Spirit, the 17 definitions of love in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 and the Beatitudes in Matthew 5.
I am neither condemning nor questioning what POTUS says or does. Those are his business and his prerogatives. But how do the majority of WCE’s condone them (or him) with their support?
Ken Reinhart
Bluffton
