The Opinion Blog

Veterans Honored For Service

Wednesday’s editorial is a tribute to veterans.

Late in December 1944, during the first Allied offensive of the Battle of the Bulge in France, the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion gathered in a wooded area for an overdue Christmas service. The weary soldiers had fought through the night. It was bitter cold and snowing. Radio operator Charles Fairlamb later recalled: “The trees, mostly pine, were beautifully covered with snow and decorated with tinsel, which the Germans had been dropping to make our radar ineffective.

“It was the most impressive Christmas service I've ever attended. I don't believe that anyone could be any closer to the real Christmas than we were that day. But it made you feel kind of funny standing there worshipping God while you had a helmet on your head, a hymn book in one hand, and a rifle in the other.”

Inexpressible gratitude

Friday's editorial offers support for local Army National Guard units readying to deploy to Afghanistan.

Several days ago, a group of nine uniformed National Guardsmen sat at a local burger restaurant, eating lunch while on a break from the training class that brought them to Myrtle Beach. Midway through the meal, the waitress walked over and told them their bills had all been paid by another customer in thanks for their service.

"That just broke our hearts," said Spc. Raymond Haselden of Johnsonville, tearing up as he described the scene at a send-off organized by the Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association. Another soldier stood immediately after Haselden and thanked the group for their gratitude, but said he is the one who is thankful - merely for the opportunity to wear his uniform.

Graham and friends pitch a GI Bill education alternative

From the afternoon e-mail ... U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., pitches his GI Bill education rights idea for servicemen and women and their families:

Transferability of Veterans GI Benefits Included in Iraq Supplemental

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement on the transferability provision being included in the Iraq supplemental funding bill.

Transferability was one of the major differences between the Webb GI Bill and the competing proposal offered by Graham along with Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and Richard Burr (R-North Carolina).

The transferability provision allows service members to transfer their education benefits to their spouse or children.  It will bolster recruitment and retention in addition to encouraging service members to continue their military careers.

Could cheaper gas overcome oil NIMBYism?

Ripped from the wires ... Bridget Johnson of La-La Land's "other" newspaper, the Daily News, explores the curious economics of oil-drilling here at home. She concentrates on drilling in Southern California, but her argument is relevant here on the right coast, where huge oil and gas reserves reportedly lurk offshore:

BY BRIDGET JOHNSON

Passing the Signal Hill pumpjacks the other day, which are nestled everywhere from outside a coffee shop to the lot of a used-car dealership, I had a thought in this beautiful coastal region which inspired the fictional oilman Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Blood.''

What if those who allowed new drilling in their neighborhoods were rewarded with $2-a-gallon gasoline? Would NIMBYism survive?

Time to get rid of motorcycle rallies

Here's an advance look at Sunday's editorial:

In 2005, local leaders discussed repackaging May for tourism activities not involving motorcycles. For a time, it seemed as though the discussion might result in a multipronged strategy for persuading motorcyclists to look elsewhere for springtime fun and frolicking. But the initiative lost steam and eventually fizzled ...

... Until last week, when a popular 20-year-old Coastal Carolina University student, Corey Brooks, was shot and killed in an altercation apparently related to the Atlantic Beach Bikefest. Now, appalled and angered by this killing, Myrtle Beach city leaders seem ready to end Bikefest and the Harley-Davidson spring rally.

Good.

ROTC a welcome addition to Coastal's academic offerings

Today's editorial takes positive note of the new Army Reserve Officers Training Corps unit at Coastal Carolina University:

"Ever since its 1954 inception as a junior college, Coastal Carolina University has struggled every step of the way toward its current status as a small university with an expanding array of undergraduate and graduate programs. The institution has never received the level of state support it deserves, given its growth and cultural and economic usefulness to our communities.

"So it is with pleasure that we note the approval this week of Coastal's first Reserve Officer Training Corps program. Under a deal inked Tuesday, students interested in military service will have a path toward junior officer status in the U.S. Army. ROTC classes will begin this fall.