Letters to the EditorSaturday, July 19, 2008
First-aid 'angels' On July 8, a South Carolina Department of Transportation employee was involved in a serious accident while operating a boom mower along S.C. Highway 61 near Middleton Gardens. Another piece of equipment threw debris, striking our employee in the head and causing very serious injury. Almost immediately, two angels, a nurse and a wrecker operator, stopped and without hesitation began performing first aid. I feel confident that their efforts saved our employee's life. SCDOT and the family feel deeply indebted to these two angels and would like to thank them personally. There is no doubt, without their efforts, this employee would have lost his life. His life continues to hang by a thread, but they gave him that thread to hold onto. If you are the angels who stopped and rendered aid that day, please contact SCDOT at 1-800-657-0330 and give us an opportunity to thank you. DAVID PILCH Bury the lines In response to the article "Off with their limbs," concerning tree cutting around power lines: That is the most horrific looking practice I've ever seen, just for a power line, which is a huge eyesore to begin with. Why can't we quit chopping gaps through these grand old trees and start burying these lines? I'm sure the cost is outrageous, but if it's done a little at a time it won't hurt as badly. In this day of wireless, cordless, text messaging, e-mail and the Internet, surely we can do better than this. Maybe the utility company has the rights, but someone gave them those rights. And it certainly was not me. What about the right to preserve that beautiful 150-200 year-old-oak tree they've just butchered? There has to be a better way. NORMAN MOSLEY Fearful choice I've voted in 12 presidential elections beginning with Kennedy/Nixon in 1960. On many of them I was not enthusiastic about either candidate but was pretty sure that even if my guy didn't win we'd still be OK. Now we come to this year's election. Such a poor choice of candidates I've never seen. My thoughts on the 2008 election can be summed up in one sentence. If John McCain is elected I fear for my country, if Barack Obama is elected I'm terrified for her. Terrified or just afraid — what a choice, but choose we must. Educate yourself on the issues and candidates and get out and vote. HOMER BRYANT Traffic plans Much has been said about the future traffic congestion facing Charleston, but like the old adage says, "When all has been said and done, then more has been said than done." So true. So what can be done to take positive action and become proactive rather than reactive? The first step is to develop a master plan which melds the collective ideas from local leaders and transportation experts as well as the public through public forums, etc. The State Ports Authority should obviously be involved because of the huge impact of shipping containers in moving them to and from the port, especially the proposed terminal on the old Navy base. In developing the master plan, here are some of the items that should be considered: Do the easy things first, such as introducing express buses with a very limited number of stops and create rush-hour HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles) lanes on I-26. The HOV lanes should be limited to vehicles carrying two or more passengers. HOV lanes are being used successfully in many other major urban areas in the U.S. and in other countries. To make the express buses work it would be necessary to have "feeder" buses at the major stops to facilitate passenger movement. High speed rail is needed, with the stations spaced far enough apart that the trains can achieve a respectable average speed. The mistake that many cities have made (such as Salt Lake City) is to have the stations far too close together so the average speed is too slow and makes for a protracted commute — and, duh, nobody wants to use them. Decide on the level of subsidy. All public transportation systems around the world are subsidized by local and state governments as a service to the citizens and to minimize the expenditure on very expensive infrastructure, as well as not filling up the community with freeways, such as in Los Angeles, which have not worked. BRIAN HILL Abandoned trees I am distressed that the trees planted as a part of the new bridge project on Bohicket Road are dying. I have made a number of calls to various offices of the South Carolina Department of Transportation without finding anyone who has any knowledge of who is supposed to be maintaining them. What a waste of taxpayers' money, to say nothing of the loss of beautiful young trees. It makes no sense to plant things and then abandon them. WILLIAM D. BRUCE |
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