The Opinion Blog

Outside Help for Atlantic Beach

Thursday’s editorial uses the plight of Princeville, N.C., to illustrate the usefulness of the municipal oversight bill that South Carolina is lacking:

Stop us if this sounds familiar:

A small but historic Carolina town with deep roots in black history and a proud tradition of overcoming the odds finds itself mired in a nasty cycle of incompetent or corrupt leadership. Its debts vastly outweigh its income. Its finances are a shambles, with residents and outside officials alike asking where the money went. Town leaders bicker, argue and take each other to court rather than discuss problems like grown-ups.

The town’s current political leaders, facing hard questions about dubious expenses, have responded with claims of “witchcraft” and enemies “raised by the devil.” And residents watching events unfold are left shaking their heads at the mismanagement and negligence that has brought their hometown so low.

The Cost of Voting



Is the voting booth a good place to cut budgets? Thursday’s second editorial isn’t so sure:

Recent cutbacks in election commission staffs and technicians in both Carolinas illustrates the danger that state legislatures and elected officials are flirting with in cutting back state services.

Little is more important in governance than ensuring that elections are properly run. Elections are fundamental, and it takes a certain number of people to make certain that voting and vote-counting are properly conducted.

N.C. reforms set example

Wednesday’s editorial:

South Carolina lawmakers missed just about every opportunity that presented itself this year to improve state government’s ethics and openness rules (with the S.C. Senate bearing more of, but not all, the blame than the S.C. House of Representatives), despite having a session that threatened to be overshadowed by the myriad public ethical failings of Gov. Mark Sanford.

Talking about the weather

In the first of a series of articles this week highlighting examples of open government, Wednesday’s editorial examines a recent push by local National Weather Service forecasters to share their knowledge with the public.

As this winter has poured out an unusual dose of bad weather this year - strong wind, heavy rain, prolonged cold and even a bout with snow - the meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Wilmington have done an unusually good job of informing the public about it.

Tale of Two States

Sunday’s editorial offers an analysis of the current trajectory of South Carolina government.

For those who see South Carolina government as a massive, bloated monster, 2010 is shaping up to be another good year, as the state legislature prepares to trim another 7 percent of the beast.

Horry’s Chain of Caring

Wednesday’s editorials praise the inspirational good works of local young people.

Caring for Kindergarteners, in its eighth year, is a three-way winner. A Coastal Carolina University football player or coach visits a kindergarten class and reads a story; the children in the class draw a picture and sign a card for an elderly homebound person in Horry County. The card will be delivered May 1 as part of the United Way of Horry County’s “Make Someone’s May Day” program.

N.C. Drivers Stop Texting, Gain Focus

Saturday’s lead editorial encourages S.C. legislators to emulate North Carolina in passing a ban on text-messaging by drivers.

This week marked the beginning of a well-deserved ban in North Carolina on sending text-messages while driving, a practice so dangerous that state lawmakers should be fighting it with every tool at their disposal.

The risk of a crash is 23 times greater while a driver is texting, according to a recent Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study. Texting causes drivers to avert their eyes from the road for full five-second intervals, during which time at highway speed they cover the length of a football field.

“Texting is in its own universe of risk,” one of the study's managers was quoted in the New York Times.

The N.C. ban has a $100 penalty that can reach $230 with fines for anyone caught sending or reading a text message while the car is in motion, though checking the phone while stopped at a light is OK.

South Carolina has no such ban, though several bills have been proposed. One would allow police to search phones for evidence of texting during traffic stops. Crashes involving texting would incur jail time and steep fines. Another bill would make cell phone use a liability factor in crash lawsuits. Any bill that discourages the practice will help.

Texting is an easy legislative target because it still has a relatively small constituency. Studies have shown that talking on the phone while driving, even on headsets, is also dangerous, taking drivers' minds off the road and increasing the likelihood of a crash to that of a drunken driver.

We hope lawmakers will soon show the courage to take on this dangerous practice as well.

One Last Chance

Thursday’s editorial reminds Myrtle Beach candidates that they have two more weeks to show voters real leadership.

Attacks on family members, anonymous mailers, allegations of kickbacks – the politics in the Myrtle Beach city elections was filthy enough the first time around that we hope the next two weeks will be an improvement.

Mystery Money

Sunday’s article calls for the end of corporate campaign contributions in South Carolina (as in federal elections and more than 20 other states), using the recent upset over contributions in Myrtle Beach as an example.

The hundreds of mysterious $1,000 donations to local politicians that have caused such stir over the last two weeks are, as The Sun News has reported, both legal and commonplace in South Carolina.

And, frankly, a little repulsive.