Friday’s editorial previews the
get-together for peace and gun buy-back coming up Saturday:
If the example of similar local
events in the past few years holds true, we can expect a little over 100 guns
to be turned in Saturday during the Stop
the Violence Peace Festival and gun buy-back in Conway.
Will this make an enormous dent in
violence in our communities? We doubt it. Turn in 100 guns and there are
thousands upon thousands more left in Horry County.
National estimates put the number of guns in the United States around 300 million,
or about one for every man, woman and child in the country. Most of those are
owned by law-abiding citizens. Some aren’t. But one event in Conway won’t do much to change those numbers.
Reading = good. That just about sums up Tuesday’s
editorial:
Being in the business of writing and
publishing, we’re just a bit biased when it comes to literacy. Reading is a good thing. Well, more than
that, actually. It’s a life necessity.
So when we heard about Conway’s upcoming
RiverRead festival, we were more than a little bit excited. What better to
celebrate than the joy of reading? And especially during National Library Week.
As the
months drag on and the Carolina Southern Railroad continues to sit idle, our
hopes for a quick and easy solution have dimmed.
No magical
grant programs have surfaced to help the Conway-based railroad repair the
bridges that shut it down last spring. No buyers or investors have jumped at
the chance to sink their money into a struggling railroad. But with the
exhaustion of each simple or easy fix, we do believe the railroad is moving
closer to getting back on track.
Friday’s second editorial explains
why local folks should be paying attention to the ongoing debate over raising
the minimum wage:
When the president unveiled his plan
to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour during his State of the
Union address earlier this month, we sat up and paid attention. After all, the Myrtle Beach metro area,
with its emphasis on tourism and hospitality industries, consistently ranks
right at the bottom of the nation when it comes to hourly and annual earnings
for local workers.
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.
Wednesday’s good works editorial
profiles the amazing and praise-worthy efforts of Tracy Bailey and the good
volunteers at Freedom Readers:
A love of children and a love of
reading are the most important attributes for volunteer tutors in the Freedom
Readers Inc. programs in Conway, Georgetown and Myrtle
Beach.
Tracy Bailey, executive director of
the nonprofit, adds that love of children includes an understanding that “they
are rambunctious, they are energetic – and wonderful.” The point is, successful
tutors “can put the needs of the child first.” Freedom Readers spring sessions
began this week in two Conway locations, the
Boys & Girls Club in Myrtle Beach and in Georgetown.
Wednesday’s good works editorial
highlights the efforts of the local Veterans Affairs office, which served more
than 8,000 veterans last year:
Wendell Allen, Veterans Affairs
officer for Horry County, at work in the former Cochran
School building in Conway, is not far from his boyhood home.
Allen was “born and raised about two miles down the road” on what is known as
the old Lonnie King farm where his father was a sharecropper.
Following a distinguished career in
the Air Force, Allen was hired as Horry
County’s veterans officer in 2008 and “the
first thing I did was move” the office from its downtown Conway location to the former school
building, also the headquarters of the Parks and Recreation Department.
Yes, it’s that time already. Wednesday’s
editorial encourages people to start volunteering with The Salvation Army’s
annual holiday drives.
Folks at The Salvation Army of Horry
County are actively recruiting volunteers for the Christmas season and Major
Bret McElroy says there are “all kinds of ways to help,” including manning the
main Angel Tree at Coastal Grand mall.
“That’s my greatest need right now,”
says Brenda Ryan, executive director of the Salvation Army Boys & Girls
Club. She needs one to three volunteers for all mall hours from Nov. 17 through
Dec. 16. The mall is open 11 hours (10 a.m. to 9 p.m.) Monday-Saturday and six
hours on Sunday. As of Monday, only 75 hours are filled, meaning there are many
wonderful opportunities available to help the Salvation Army provide Christmas
gifts for the hundreds of children represented by the tags on the tree. Besides
the main Angel Tree at Coastal Grand, there typically are satellite trees in
two dozen locations around the county. And by the way, organizations wishing to
have a tree may contact Ryan.
Thursday’s second editorial weighs in
on the race to represent eastern Conway
and Loris in the S.C. House:
The ballot debacle earlier this year
has made the race to replace George Hearn as the representative for Conway a crowded one,
with five petition candidates jostling for a chance to take the seat. Of the
five, one stood out.
Former assistant solicitor Bert von
Herrmann possesses the leadership ability, hard-working nature and experience
needed to succeed as a legislator. He offered common sense suggestions on a
range of issues, from ethics reform to infrastructure work to closing the
sweepstakes parlor loophole that’s allowing gambling to retake its hold on the
state. All of his ideas came with a healthy dose of reality that such changes
will not be easy or quick or simple, particularly for a freshman House member,
but will take hard work building relationships and coalitions needed to get the
job done.
Wednesday’s editorial celebrates the
good work being done on behalf of veterans by the local American Legion Riders:
On a sunny summer day, a dozen or so
motorcyclists of the American Legion Riders Post 178 (Murrells Inlet) delivered
a check to the Veterans
Welcome Home
& Resource Center
in Little River. The riders of Post 178 regularly support the center, started
three years ago, and ALR leader Bob Duncan says “the vets center is one of our
main projects.”
Other groups supported by the ALR
include area Blue Star Mothers and families of the National Guard field
artillery unit in Georgetown during deployment
to Afghanistan
through the Guard’s Family Readiness Program. Beyond the support for
established groups, the riders also took the lead in providing a proper funeral
to veterans who otherwise would not receive one.
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