Friday's editorial praises Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach officials for increasing citizens' access to governmental records.
In what appears to be a growing movement for local-government transparency across the state, Myrtle Beach officials today will begin posting a weekly check register online, even as Surfside Beach officials are working on a plan to do so as well.
Continue reading "MB, Surfside Increase Transparency" »
Thursday's editorial explores the reasons why Gov. Sanford should resign, despite our expectation that he will not, and concludes that the state now faces a quandary of leadership whether he leaves office or stays in.
What, exactly, does Gov. Mark Sanford want?
In
a barely believable interview Tuesday, Sanford described his
relationship with his Argentinian mistress as "a love story,"
"forbidden" and "tragic," painfully earnest words that echo his private
e-mails about their "hopelessly impossible situation of love." He will
die, he told The Associated Press, knowing he has met his "soul mate."
Continue reading "Sanford's state of crisis" »
Wednesday's editorial examines how the falloff in tax revenue will affect local governmental services.
As local governments along the Grand
Strand tighten their budgetary belts, reduce overall spending and hold
the line on taxes, residents should brace themselves for cuts in
services.
Continue reading "Hard times cut cities' services, too" »
Tuesday's editorial discourages holiday drunk driving, and meanwhile highlights a new blood drive by the American Red Cross.
There is no better time than the July
Fourth holiday period - on a weekend this year - to avoid consuming
alcohol and driving.
Continue reading "Safety is holiday priority" »
Sunday's editorial criticizes the continued lack of cooperation - two months after the fire - between state and local authorities in determinng how it could have been prevented from getting out of control.
At a little-noticed meeting before a
panel of state lawmakers last week, state Forestry Commission and
Department of Natural Resources officials repeated the now-familiar
story of the state's most destructive fire on record: $40 million in
Horry County property destroyed, 76 homes burned down and 97 damaged.
Continue reading "Still seeking answers" »
Saturday's editorial considers some of the health-care reforms gaining the most traction in Congress.
In contrast to the adversarial
atmosphere that dominated the health care debate of the 1990s, a new
consensus is emerging that systematic reform is necessary, because
rising costs now appear to threaten the country's long-term financial
stability. Doing nothing, it seems, is no longer affordable.
Continue reading "Time ripe for health reform" »
Friday's editorial criticizes Liz Gilland for making a comment that, instead of promoting gender equality in Horry County government, likely will serve to hinder it.
The Sun News has long encouraged local
leaders to follow the established good-governance practice of
conducting a search outside the county's borders for high level
vacancies.
In that light, we applauded Horry County Council
Chairwoman Liz Gilland's decision to support such a search to find the
next county administrator - especially given her own previous
statements that highly qualified candidates for the job are already at
work in Horry County government.
Our applause, however, came to
an abrupt end with her shocking comment that "As far as I'm concerned I
would not vote for a woman. From experience, I've seen the difficulty a
woman has with a council of all men and how difficult it is to chair a
council of all men."
Continue reading "Engendering controversy" »
Thursday's editorial considers Gov. Sanford's future ability to lead our state.
Of interest to far more South
Carolinians than the personal and moral ramifactions of Mark Sanford's
affair is the more difficult question, shouted at the end of
Wednesday's confessional news conference but ignored, of whether he
should continue on as governor.
Does a transcontinental tryst -
continued over more than a year, known to his family for five months
and finally revealed to the state Wednesday after he was caught at the
airport returning from a clandestine trip to Argentina - disqualify
Sanford from office?
Continue reading "The Argentinian affair" »
Here's an open forum for Wednesday. In case you haven't seen it, Gov. Mark Sanford has returned to South Carolina - from Argentina. Also generating a lot of discussion is Horry County Chairwoman Liz Gilland's assertion that women need not apply for the county administrator's job, as far as her vote is concerned.
Continue reading "WEDNESDAY OPEN FORUM" »
Wednesday's editorial takes another look at the social-service organizations that need increased help from the public in a difficult funding year.
St. Delight Community Outreach in
Little River, which operates a food pantry and provides other services,
is among the more than 30 organizations that no longer will receive
financial help from Horry County.
Facing a revenue shortfall of
$10 million, the Horry County Council approved a $131 million budget
that preserves core services but reduces spending, including $500,000
to the private organizations. These include a half dozen rescue squads,
Chapin Memorial Library in Myrtle Beach, the Rape Crisis Center,
American Red Cross, Salvation Army and the Little River program.
Continue reading "Picking up the slack for charity" »
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