The Opinion Blog

How to Succeed in Business: Really Trying

Saturday’s first editorial:

At 8:30 Saturday morning, just under 1,000 new graduates of Coastal Carolina University will march across the stage in Brooks Stadium and turn their tassels from right to left. On Monday evening, hundreds more from Horry-Georgetown Technical College will follow suit at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

Many of those graduates will be hoping to head into the workforce, looking to land their first professional job in the post-college adult world. And many of them may be in for a rude awakening.

Open Victories

Friday’s editorial is a wrap-up of what’s working well when it comes to open government. It includes plenty of links, so if you’ve ever wondered where to find some of this info, it could be worth browsing just for those:

We’re nearing the end of another Sunshine Week, when media outlets across the nation celebrate open government and advocate for more transparency in the halls of power. In past years we’ve used the occasion to call for a variety of reforms, including more robust freedom of information laws in our state, fewer executive sessions at local governmental bodies, better monitoring of those secret meetings and more basic training for public employees on the state’s public access laws. Those concerns haven’t changed.

But while there are still plenty of issues to address across our state and region – and we will continue to point them out – for today at least we choose to see the glass as half full, and we’ll instead celebrate some successes of local institutions. There have been achievements in public access and open government here in recent years and we honor them to spread the worthy ideas and practices to other local governments and agencies.

Intriguing Changes for Coast RTA

Friday’s first editorial wishes Coast RTA the best as they try to get an airport shuttle service up and running:

Our hat’s off to Coast RTA General Manager Myers Rollins. Rather than focus on the loss of the regional bus service’s $629,000 contract with Coastal Carolina University as a problem, he looked upon it as an opportunity to try something new.

Balconies Aren't Made for Jumping

The Sun News file photo

Thursday’s first editorial is a helpful PSA as we near the beginning of tourist season:

Stay on the balconies, folks.

With winter nearly in our rearview mirror, tourist season is approaching once more. Restaurants and mini golf courses are reopening, businesses are putting the finishing touches on new looks, and hotels are ready to welcome the first waves of guests to our shore. With that influx comes the likelihood that visitors will be tumbling again off the balconies of those hotels. It’s an unfortunate and dangerous annual trend we see year after year.

After Tragedy at CCU

Thursday’s first editorial simply adds our voice to those mourning the senseless killing this week at CCU:

Along with everybody connected to Coastal Carolina University, we mourn the senseless death of sophomore Anthony Liddell, shot Tuesday night at a college residence hall.

Police continue to hunt for his killer and we expect more details will emerge in the coming days. In the meantime, we shudder and recoil at the violence that continues to touch our area and take our friends and neighbors from our grasp.

Tax Preparation Program Short of Volunteers

A whiz at math and business and need something to do with your extra time? Consider volunteering to help low-income folks with their tax returns:

With more volunteers, a frustrating situation could be improved at Horry County sites of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program at three public libraries in Conway, Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach where the shortage of volunteers causes about as many folks to be turned away as receive assistance.

A shortage of volunteers is “our biggest drawback,” says Utocqua Grissett, who helps organize the VITA sites as coordinator for the Horry County Financial Literacy Coalition. It is a collaboration of entities including the United Way, Horry-Georgetown Technical College, Coastal Carolina University, the Salvation Army, Alpha Sorority Inc. and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. The coalition has been organized for about 10 years, Grissett says. VITA is a national program sponsored by the Internal Revenue Service for four decades. Horry County has had a VITA program since the 1990s, Grissett says.

A Self-Imposed Tax Hike?

If a neighborhood wants better lighting and landscaping, the best place for it to find the money is its own resources, as Friday’s first editorial points out:

Kudos to the residents of Quail Creek, who asked for the opportunity to raise their own taxes this week.

Homeowners in the neighborhood near Coastal Carolina University asked Horry County Council for the chance to hold a special election that could increase their property taxes to pay for improved amenities such as street lights, speed bumps, landscaping and better stormwater management.

Wellness Council Spreads Message of Health

Tuesday’s second editorial highlights the good work of one of the lesser known nonprofits in the area:

Kristi Falk is on a mission: “to get people in the area healthier.”

The former owner of a health food store in Conway, Falk parlayed that experience first into five years of putting on the Wellness Expo of Myrtle Beach at the city’s convention center. From there, she founded the Wellness Council for South Carolina in 2006. The nonprofit council seeks to teach local residents how to be healthy people in all aspects of their lives, whether nutrition or recycling, exercise or emotions.

Nullify the Nullification Talk

Sunday’s editorial takes on the tried and true topic of nullification. Remember that from your high school history textbooks?

South Carolina has a proud tradition of obstinacy. In the federal family, we’re the child who automatically responds to every suggestion with an emphatic “nuh-uh” or “make me.” Ingrained over centuries, stubborn refusal has become our gut feeling, our knee-jerk reaction. The federal government says po-tay-to and we say po-tah-to. Of course, if the feds at any point changed course and started saying po-tah-to, we’d immediately insist that real Americans say po-tay-to.

This disdain for and distrust of authority has led us into confrontations of all sizes, from bloody wars to congressmen who publicly call the president a liar during a State of the Union address. The recent calls by state legislators for reviving nullification only adds to this long tradition of digging in our heels.

MOAA Achieves 5-Star Status

Wednesday’s editorial highlights the good work being done by the local branch of the Military Officers Association of America:

With the commissioning of four new Army officers at Coastal Carolina University the other day, the Grand Strand Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America has four more members to celebrate the chapter’s “5 Star Level of Excellence” award from the national MOAA.

Roger Pilcher, president of the Grand Strand Chapter, presented 2nd lieutenant gold bars to Derrick C. Barcliff, Anson T. Cavanagh, Justin M. Jackson and Chase H. McCabe. With their first gold bars, the new Army officers from the ROTC program at CCU receive the first year’s membership in national MOAA and the chapter. The Reserve Officers Training Corps program at Coastal is one of the many activities in which Grand Strand Chapter members participate.