The Opinion Blog

We pay a fearful price for our ignorance of civics, history

From the morning e-mail ... Longtime local resident Tom Davis reminds us of the terrible cost we pay for our ignorance of history and civics:

By Thomas G. Davis

In 35 days I'll be 58 years old, not yet an 'old man' but it's no longer springtime. Anyone that age has seen a lot in their life and what's become a constant moaning about America's current economy I believe is due to an alarming ignorance of history.

We haven't meaningfully taught history or civics for 40 years and it's caught up to us, giving millions of ignorant Americans (they simply weren't taught) no reference, nothing to cling to or take comfort and guidance from to know that tomorrow's coming and our country will be stronger ... especially since our current circumstances have rarely been better!

MB airport authority bill comes months too late

Today's editorial takes issue with the proposal by S.C. Sen. Luke Rankin and S.C. Rep. Alan Clemmons to transfet Horry County's airports to a state-run commission:

Let Rankin-Clemmons airport plan go nowhere

A question for S.C. Sen. Luke Rankin and S.C. Rep. Alan Clemmons, who this week filed identical bills to give control of the Myrtle Beach International Airport to an unelected entity called the Grand Strand Airport District: Why didn't you guys pitch this legislation at the beginning of this year's legislative session?

By waiting until now to pitch an alternative airport governance plan, Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, and Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, virtually guarantee that nothing productive can happen. Horry County's other three senators were right this week to greet the proposal with the same enthusiasm they'd show a plate of undercooked fish.

Eliminate ugly surprises for new residents

Today's editorial expresses empathy for The Farm residents distressed about contruction of a water tower near their homes:

Require developers to disclose intrusive projects

Some residents at The Farm, a Carolina Forest subdivision, are steamed that our local water utility is erecting a 120-foot water tower on nearby International Drive. They see the tower, a vital increment in a functional water system, as a blight upon their property values. So they have circulated a petition demanding that the offending utility, the Grand Strand Water & Sewer Authority, move the tower somewhere else.

Their request is unrealistic. But their distress that no one warned them this could happen is legitimate.

Technological 'Palookaville' a scary place to be

Ripped from the wires ... Joel Achenbach explains why it's so hard to predict a future that flies at us with terrifying speed. Warning: The piece a TL-DR candidate (in Daniel Cochran's parlance). But it's great, so I'm posting it for those folks with an interest in the subject and three or more minutes to spare. dc

By Joel Achenbach

The most important things happening in the world today won't make tomorrow's front page. They won't get mentioned by presidential candidates or Chris Matthews or Bill O'Reilly or any of the other folks yammering and snorting on cable television.

They'll be happening in laboratories -- out of sight, inscrutable and unhyped until the very moment when they change life as we know it.

Science and technology form a two-headed, unstoppable change agent. ... We vaguely understand that this stuff is changing our lives, but we feel as though it's all out of our control. We're just hanging on tight, like Kirk and Spock when the Enterprise starts vibrating at Warp 8.

Would 'road pricing' ease Strand traffic congestion?

Ripped from the wires ... Believe it or not, the editorial page editor of the Washington Post, writing on local traffic congestion, has touched upon one solution to congested roads that might work in our communities.

By Fred Hiatt

WASHINGTON -- Should you have to pay to drive on the Capital Beltway -- and on Interstate 270, the George Washington Memorial Parkway and all the bridges that cross the Potomac?

Many economists would say yes. The Bush administration would agree. A federally funded study completed last week lays out how much revenue such a tolling system would generate and how much it could reduce traffic congestion.

But if you don't like the idea, don't fire off any angry e-mails just yet. "Road pricing,'' long the arcane province of a few academics, has become technically feasible and politically at least not unmentionable. But it still generates tremendous suspicion and opposition, and not along the usual left-right dividing lines.

NMB becoming the Strand's alpha dog?

Today's editorial remarks upon North Myrtle Beach's relentless boundary expansions:

"Developers at the unincorporated periphery of North Myrtle Beach rarely resist annexation. Attracted by the city's superior public services and stable property-tax rate, they practically beg the city to redraw its boundaries to include their acreage. Not for nothing did a city councilman joke a few years back that the city could annex its way along S.C. 9 to the city limits of Loris if it wanted to.

"As things are turning out, his joke would have worked better if he'd used Myrtle Beach as his example.

Local affordable housing not an impossible dream

Today's editorial highlights the Calabash builder who's churning out good homes for well under $100,000.

"Creating affordable housing for our communities' hard-working families is no easy matter. High land prices complicate the effort from the get-go. The folks who provide the designs, materials, appliances and labor to build, equip and finish decent single-family homes for local families rightly expect to be paid for their efforts. And local building codes rightly drive up costs by requiring that new homes - even modest ones - be sturdily built.

"But as Brunswick County, N.C., builder Brian Smith is demonstrating, it is possible to build such homes in reasonable quantity for well less than $100,000 each. The "secret": Local government, nonprofit organizations, designers, builders, suppliers and equippers must contribute to the effort, in well-coordinated fashion.

Force new residents to 'buy in' to Horry?

Today's editorial applauds the County Council majority on course toward levying an impact fee on new residents.

"It now seems a safe bet that Horry County Council is ready to require new residents to offset the stress they exert on public services and infrastructure by paying an up-front impact fee. The council majority pushing for this new revenue source is acting out of fiscal necessity and political expediency.

"The gap between county revenue and county spending for the upcoming fiscal year is at least $4 million. Impact fee revenue, whatever that turns out to be, would help shrink that deficit. Better to balance the budget on the backs of the development industry, the council majority figures, than to slash the size of county government or raise property taxes.

"But even though the council should pare down the 2,100-employee-plus county government before making tax or fee decisions, impact fees can be defended as a matter of principle.