Letters to the Editor

Maintain park

Darla Moore's incredible gift to fund the Charleston Parks Conservancy is great news for Charleston. It is known that our fair city has a large appetite for parks but not much stomach for maintaining them.

White Point Garden is a perfect example. Arguably the city's most historic and important park, it is woefully neglected.

The last time I met Charleston Parks Director Steve Livingston there to go over some of the deficiencies, he allowed that the number of acres he maintains has increased but that the resources to do so have not kept up.

For example, there are 25-30 missing azaleas in the beds along South Battery. My guess is that they died when the park was inundated during Hurricane Hugo and were never replaced.

Oak limbs have grown over the promenade along South Battery and some are touching the pathway. Not only does this make it impossible to walk along the path, it also blocks the east and west views. It would seem to be a simple matter to trim these branches.

The oyster-shell paths are raked infrequently and the areas under the oaks are never raked. Every time it rains, leaves, twigs and other rotted matter wash down to the paths and clog the drains.

I spent 20 minutes unclogging the drains to the west of the bandstand one recent morning so the pool of water could go out to the harbor. It is beyond comprehension that White Point Garden — of all parks — has not been maintained to a higher standard.

There has been talk of a $1 million renovation. Well, that has been nothing but talk for the past couple of years. The park does not need $1 million spent on it. It simply needs to be maintained.

I hope Ms. Moore will use her influence to see that some of the funds are used to bring our parks up to an acceptable standard.

RICHARD HUTSON JR.

Tradd Street

Charleston

Kitty Trask Holt

There has been much media attention lately devoted to the demise of several pop culture and news media icons whose personal contributions to the betterment of others could be questionable at best.

Yet in the real world, remarkable people are passing quietly every day without appropriate recognition of their very real and lasting contributions to their communities and neighbors. The loss of Kitty Trask Holt on June 15 is such a case.

The size, diversity and sorrow felt by those at her St. Philip's Church funeral vividly documented the respect, gratitude and love that this wonderful lady earned by her unabashed, unrelenting and totally selfless concern and care for others over her lifetime of giving.

This was a lady who, despite her own considerable suffering, always thought first of her neighbor and was the first to help anyone in need.

While most people would have thrown in the towel early, she spent decades fighting the horrible disease of scleroderma so she could complete raising her wonderful family and continue her own deep Christian faith commitment to helping her fellow man.

All those touched by her caring were better for it, as exemplified by my wife, who has had her own resolve and spirit strengthened immeasurably by Kitty's devoted friendship and positive unyielding support over her own decade-long struggle with multiple sclerosis, and this has carried through to all members of our family.

It takes a very special and unique person to give so much of herself that others forever will be better. It takes an even more special person to have the courage and faith to do so despite her own serious needs and problems.

Her spirit will continue to live large in all of us so selflessly touched, as well as in the newly established Kitty Trask Holt Memorial Chair for Scleroderma Research at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Debby & Walker Coleman

Cochran Court

Charleston

Shrinking paper

As I get older, my eyes get weaker. Reading becomes more difficult and my arms are not long enough to hold the paper or a book far enough away. However, this past week, in looking at the paper, I thought my eyes were playing games on me. It appeared that had I lost much of my prized Post and Courier.

Later, after talking to some friends, I found out it was not my eyes at all. It seems, like boxes of cereal and bars of candy, the paper has again reduced its size to save money.

Don't disappear on us.

JIMMY CARROLL

Tabby Lane

Isle of Palms

CPD priorities

It was quite distressing to read that the Charleston Police Department has yet to apprehend any suspects for the recent burglaries and subsequent sexual assaults of two college-aged women in Harleston Village and Radcliffeborough ("Police look for links in cases," Local & State, June 24).

In recent weeks, the CPD has apparently been far too busy enforcing the seat-belt laws on weekday afternoons at the corner of Beaufain and Smith streets, closely monitoring fine arts enthusiasts during French Quarter Art Walks and formulating plans to combat tailgaters at the upcoming Dave Matthews concert rather than focusing its efforts on real crimes.

Perhaps the CPD needs to re-examine its priorities.

Richard Morse

Ashley Avenue

Charleston

Expectations

For the past eight weeks, I have served as interim principal of North Charleston High School. I have had the pleasure of working with some of the most caring and dedicated teachers I have ever worked with during my 39 years as a public school teacher and administrator.

North Charleston High School serves a large number of students from families living at or below the poverty level. Many of these students' parents work two or more jobs trying to make ends meet. Like all parents, they love their children and want them to succeed.

North Charleston High students come from mostly single-parent families. The school has a student turnover rate of more than 40 percent. More than 70 percent of its students have an after-school job, the earnings from which help the family pay for basic needs, such as food, clothing, shelter and fuel. North Charleston High has a poverty index of more than 85 percent.

Many of these students, after working four to eight hours, come home and attempt to complete school assignments. They are up and at the bus stop by 6 a.m. and in their first-period class at 7:05. I am amazed, despite the numerous obstacles they face, that many of these students remain highly motivated and have earned scholarships.

Teachers at the school must work twice as hard as their counterparts in schools with students from higher social and economic communities.

These educators must try to inspire and motivate students who are in a daily survival mode and who do not always see the importance of education as do students who are more affluent.

Does this mean that we should give up on these students and not set high expectations for them? Certainly not. But it does mean our expectations must be realistic.

The students, teachers and administrators at North Charleston face many factors over which they have little control. Instead of labeling their efforts as unsatisfactory, we should celebrate that they show up every day and strive to clear the bar that is constantly being raised.

I have a new respect for the students, and the faculty, staff, and administrators at North Charleston High. We need to start celebrating and rewarding their achievements, set obtainable and realistic goals for success and hold them accountable for only those things over which they have some control.

The North Charleston High family and other schools with similar challenges perform miracles daily.

Let's level the playing field and not take them out of the game before they start.

BROOKS P. MOORE

Stonehenge Drive

Hanahan

Cut the weeds

Charleston officials may need to change Broad Street to "Weed Street."

Take a look at the growth of weeds along Broad Street only one block from City Hall. Some may think this is a good thing because some of the parking meters are being obscured. I watched as one elderly female courageously fought back the weed growth to deposit her money in the meter. Maybe, downtown Charleston is being used as a true example of "going green."

Who knows, if Margaret Mitchell were alive today and visited Charleston as a tourist, she would not write a story about a fictional plantation named Tara that is "Gone With The Wind." Instead, she would write a nonfictional account of a beautiful Southern city titled "Gone With The Weeds."

A.J. Januszkiewicz

Bears Bluff Road

Wadmalaw Island

Carriage ride

After 35 years in Charleston, we ventured downtown for a carriage ride.

I had read about the alleged negative conditions of the animals through the years and I had never understood why a person would want to spend an hour in a carriage.

I have totally changed my mind after Saturday's pleasant experience.

Mary Allis pleasantly greeted us at the barn and got us tickets very efficiently, even though we did not have reservations on that busy day. The barn was immaculate, and we could see the animals were very loved. Our tour was amazing, to say the least, due in part to Matt, our tour guide. It was a most informative and professional tour given by someone very knowledgeable of Charleston history.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and highly recommend that everyone become a tourist in their own city.

Palmetto Carriage Co. gets two thumbs up in my book. Thank you for the nice afternoon.

Amy Burns Kissell

Dotterer's Run

Charleston

Gone too far

I am writing in response to the June 26, letter titled "Sowing apostasy." I couldn't agree more.

This great country of ours was founded and has survived until now on our strong belief in God. However, over the last decade or so, we have been forced to be so "politically correct" that we have allowed the one mainstay of our being to be taken away.

I believe (to a certain point) that state and church should be separate, however, the complete removal of God from our everyday lives has gone too far. I don't understand why?

How can my belief in my God be so offensive to others, especially when I don't condemn or allow myself to be offended by what others believe?

Have we grown so thin-skinned that we can allow ourselves to be offended by mere words or a symbol of religion?

Have we, as a country, moved so far to the left that we have forgotten what our fathers and forefathers fought and died for in establishing this country?

Maybe I am too simple-minded and look at things in a different light. If I see something I don't like, I simply stop looking at it.

If I see something on television I don't like, I simply change the channel or turn the TV off. Just because I don't like it doesn't give me the right to stop others from enjoying it.

I am not trying to push my religion or my God on others. If you don't believe the same as I do, that is your right, and I am willing to let you exercise that right. I only ask that you give me the same courtesy I am offering to you.

In this country, if you don't believe in God that is your privilege, and you won't be persecuted or worse. However, in far too many other countries, if you don't believe in the god of choice, you could lose your life. That being said: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

DON WESTLAND

Windsor Mill Road

Goose Creek

Healthy food

What a wonderful gift Ranit Katz has given Charleston County students and their parents.

She refused to be complacent and see the children of Charleston County eating unhealthy food in school cafeterias and purchasing sugary snacks from school vending machines and stores. Because of this, she spearheaded a task force to change the types of food and beverages that will now be provided to our children.

Children will now have only healthy, fresh and wholesome food available to them at school, providing the fuel for greater academic success. It was well past time for this change to take place.

Thanks to Ranit Katz on behalf of the grateful parents, children and residents of Charleston County.

Jill Conway

20th Avenue

Isle of Palms

Missing 'GMLC'

I cannot find one of my favorite columns in my local paper — "Good Morning, Lowcountry."

It has disappeared and we are told that it likely will not return.

Richard Lyons, my husband, and I are longtime journalists from off. When we moved here a little more than four years ago, we became faithful followers of GMLC, sensing that it revealed something of the soul of this place. We read that column every day it appeared and as a result came to feel at home here sooner rather than later.

Needless to say, neither of us is unfamiliar with the difficulties of balancing a newspaper's business side with its editorial demands. Sometimes what gets cut doesn't matter a lot; sometimes it really hurts, as we are witnessing, sadly, in papers all around the country and now in the Lowcountry.

Susan Lyons

Gadsden Street

Charleston

Sugarcane fuel

How shortsighted Florida is by purchasing 300 square miles of land used to grow sugarcane and returning it to the Everglades.

It would be better for the land to continue being used for sugarcane, and instead of processing the cane into sugar, processing it into ethanol. Sugarcane is more easily processed into ethanol than is corn. It also produces more, and it is not as expensive to process.

Maybe we should stop sticking our heads in the sand and use this area to become more independent of foreign oil.

Jim Railton

W. Walnut Circle

Summerville