Letters to the EditorTuesday, July 15, 2008
Back local stores Reading David Quick's recent "High Profile" article, which featured Julia and John Royall and their Royall Hardware store, was a wonderful treat on the Fourth of July weekend. The article brightened my day as I, too, believe in the Royall's "old-fashioned, common-sense practices" in managing a retail business. My 45 years of retail experience have developed my opinion that the "mom and pop" practices of working hard, knowing, serving and appreciating one's customers, giving back to the community, treating employees well, and above all honoring God, are the keys to success in business. This is the American way. Let us remember this, and let us spend our hard-earned dollars with the Royalls and other small retailers before we spend a dime at WalMart. TOM FULMER Admissions plan In the 40-plus years I have worked with college-bound students I have seen many changes in how colleges assess students' applications. To be sure, grades and strong standardized test scores are, and will always be, of great importance. But with many colleges now saying they are receiving applications from way more qualified students than they can accept (a phenomenon made easier by technology), they are looking at secondary criteria more closely to determine whom they will admit. That underscores the importance of writing a strong essay, having good letters of support (but not too many), and giving evidence that you, the student, are owning this process. Colleges are becoming leery and weary of reading applications that clearly were not done by the students. They send signals that at a time when independence is fundamental to success in college the student is entirely too dependent on the parents to do what should rightly be his/her obligation. Recently, at Brown University, I observed five different families arrive for campus tours. In three instances a parent approached the receptionist, gave the student's name and generally did all the talking while the student held back. In the other two, the students were clearly in charge, approaching the deskwith confident demeanors, introducing themselves, and providing the requested information while the parents looked on. The contrast was stark. As a parent, I well know the temptation to intercede in a child's behalf when we fear they may be hurt if we don't, and certainly there are many instances when this is warranted. Controlling the college application process is not one of those. Doing the application work postpones that time when a student must understand that accountability is earned. BERT HUDNALL Climate cultists Cal Thomas' column about global warming being a cult was not delusional and he's not alone. Catholic Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Ausralia says the hysteria over climate change is akin to a "new religion and a symptom of pagan emptiness. It's almost as though people without religion, who don't belong to any of the great religious traditions, have got to be frightened of something. Perhaps they're looking for a cause that is almost a substitute for religion." Recently, the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine announced that 31,072 (still counting) independent scientists have signed a petition stating that there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane or other greenhouse gases is causing catastrophic heating of the earth. It would seem that these signatories trump the 600 handpicked scientists in the anti-American United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) consensus. Dr. Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and senior scientist at Moscow's Shirshov Institute of Oceanography, states, "The latest data say that earth has passed the peak of its warmer period, and a fairly cold spell will set in quite soon, by 2012." Dr. Sorokhtin further states, "Carbon dioxide is not to blame for global climate change. Solar activity is many times more powerful than the energy produced by the whole of humankind." In a recent paper for the Danish National Space Center, physicists Henrik Svensmark and Eigil Friis-Christensen concur: "The sun appears to be the main forcing agent in global climate change." Kenneth Tapping of our own National Research Council, who oversees a giant radio telescope focused on the sun, is convinced we are in for a long period of severely cold weather if sunspot activity does not pick up soon. The above scientists have been called "deniers." So you have to question the judgment and motivation of the believers, because they offer no substantive evidence in support of their allegation that man is causing global warming against thousands of years of physical verifiable scientific evidence that refutes everything they've presented. BOB ADAMS Strong lures Southerners have known about the Viagra-like features of watermelon for a long time, but we just didn't tell any body. Wait till they do studies on grits, chitlins and pickled pigs feet. SCDOT will have to put turnstiles at our northern border to keep people from "off" from flooding south. LENNY BRANCH Try the bus first I read with amusement and a bit more than a little alarm the article providing an attempt to justify building a passenger rail service between Summerville and downtown Charleston. A few questions came to me: Has CARTA tried a bus service for this route to gauge ridership? If so, are all the buses so packed that a train is necessary? Do the people that put out the data printed in the newspaper really expect us to believe that the projected operating costs ($4 million a year) and capital cost ($46 million) of our rail line will be lower (when including the track rights cost) than the other established lines in Nashville and Albuquerque with the record we have of such endeavors? That the ridership (1,600 per day) and revenue of our project will be above these other two lines? Where are all these people going to go when they reach the end of the rail line? Are there really that many jobs in Summerville and downtown? Let's slow down a little here and see if the demand is really there. If CARTA is expanded (we might as well) to create the Summerville-to-downtown service, with the accompanying feeder lines at either end, and it proves successful, then we can consider a rail line. DUANE CARRELL A grand Fourth I have not felt as American as I felt on July 4 this year in a very long time. My 24-year-old son and I spent that evening along with one of his friends and his family at the Patriots Point holiday celebration. My son's friend just completed his military obligation as a member of the Air Force. We had a wonderful time at the holiday celebration in Mount Pleasant. There were over 30,000 people in attendance. People brought their coolers, food, chairs and blankets, and as a mass group we all enjoyed the food, music, dancing, singing, games, etc. At no time were there any problems with anyone being rude, drunk or disorderly. Law enforcement did its job with regard to parking and patrolling the area, but I never witnessed anyone being questioned, searched or arrested. The East Coast band and other bands provided a great time for all. The evening was capped off with a magnificent display of fireworks shot off of the deck of the USS Yorktown. Just prior to the fireworks show the new director of Patriots Point along with several members of the armed forces led the entire crowd in the national anthem. You could feel the pride of freedom by the singing and expressions during the song. I want to thank the town of Mount Pleasant and all those involved for making this one of the most enjoyable Fourth of July celebrations for me in my 58 years as an American citizen. I forgot to mention that there was no charge for parking, admission, or entertainment. I am sure the concert at Joe Riley Park was also entertaining, but it sure cost a lot more for the entertainment, not to mention being checked for alcohol, no tailgating and having to wait in line for hours to get into the concert. In this tight economy it was wonderful that we were all able to have such a great time at such a minimal cost. HOWARD SILVERSTEIN, Ph.D Respect police I am most distressed over several letters I have seen about the Charleston Police Department and its "priorities" — something about enforcing seat-belt laws instead of working the burglary and rape cases that occurred recently downtown. May I start by saying anyone who knows anything about law enforcement knows there are different departments at CPD that do different functions. The police officers in charge of traffic enforcement are the ones who are writing traffic violations like no seat belts or speeding. They keep the roads safe. There are detectives who are assigned to the burglary and rape cases. That is their priority. No one wants these criminals behind bars more than they do. Now let's get to the other police officers who work in all kinds of weather and that patrol at night to make sure your homes and neighborhoods are safe. They catch criminals every day and you never hear about it. How about a little respect for the hard-working police officers that put their lives on the line everyday for you and your family? This includes all departments, including the Charleston County Sheriff's Office. When people go into law enforcement they expect to deal with the worst of society, and the worst gets worse every day. They are cursed, called names and disrespected in every way. Do they deserve any less than the total respect and support of law-abiding citizens? KAREEN THOMPSON |
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