Hurricane Ian should serve as warning about ways to prepare when we expand marinas
Learn from Ian
The horrific scenes from Florida after Ian show among other casualties destroyed boats and marinas.
The cost of clearing these wrecked and abandoned boats will be significant. Several boats were abandoned in Beaufort waters after prior storms, and the removal process was tedious, involving taxpayer expense.
With the proposed massive expansion of the City of Beaufort marina, I envision a horrific scene after Hurricane XYZ strikes at a future date with dozens of destroyed boats, huge chunks of marina debris pushed into the marsh and onto the shoreline, the Henry Chambers Park, the present marina parking lot and Bay Street. Who will remove the boats and debris, and who will pay for the cleanup?
Our incoming City Council could require the new management company to provide a bond for the removal of boats and marina debris as a condition of the marina expansion. In addition, the CEO of the company should personally guarantee the timely and full compliance with the terms for removal of boats and debris.
Our City Council candidates should clearly state their positions on protecting our city’s waterfront. Maybe the best solution though is no expansion of the existing marina.
William P. Hendricks, Beaufort
Save our trees
About the loss of our tree canopy – one by one, project by project, the local governments have not made saving trees a priority. If so, the trees would not be disappearing every time a developer tries to squeeze another dollar out of a property.
The authorities have given only lip service to tree protection. Also, zoning and ordinances can protect trees.
Neighborhoods have rights as well. There is no appropriate price to charge developers for cutting down too many trees or significant ones -- they are just too valuable to be destroyed.
We are asked for input at meetings,10-year plans are grandly presented with trumpets and fanfare, and then the plans are outdated or need revision, or there are loopholes in the ordinance.
Smoke and mirrors have worked so far while the tree canopy becomes a memory.
Jerry Floyd, St. Helena Island
Bad idea
Apparently, the S.C. legislature and Gov. Henry McMaster do not understand the meaning of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment that refers to a “wall of separation” between Church and State.
Providing a $1.5 million dollar earmark to Christian Learning Centers of Greenville County creates an excessive entanglement of government and religion, thereby putting our state on the slippery slope of creating a theocracy rather than a democracy. Likewise, CLC’s revised plans to provide biblical instruction to disadvantaged and at-risk students would probably violate South Carolina’s charter school requirements.
This was a bad, and possibly unconstitutional, idea from the very beginning that never should have been passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor.
Lewis Huffman, Columbia
Consider running
Is your legislator, county, or city representative truly meeting your expectations and deserving of another term? Too many of our political leaders are overly comfortable in their positions because, in the primary election, they have no opposing challenger.
Some incumbents have become complacent, or they are financially able to demean and misrepresent their opponent while rampantly spreading disinformation, an intentional effort to confuse you, the voter.
Candidates in our local elections have been invited to respond to questions generated by the League of Women Voters of the Columbia Area.
The LWVCA is a nonpartisan organization that does not endorse or oppose candidates. Our Vote411.org database allows voters to learn about the candidates and to compare the answers of the candidates vying for your vote.
If your political representatives are complacent incumbents with no opponent and no agenda, consider running against them in the next election cycle.
L.J. Cole, Columbia president LWV
