Tuesday’s editorial, on efforts to
limit risky sexual behavior by teens:
Forrest Alton has a message for Horry County:
“Pay attention.”
The CEO of the S.C. Campaign to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy is hoping to build up an Horry County
that takes the issue of teenage preganancy and risky sexual behaviors seriously
and isn’t afraid to step in when needed.
Wednesday’s editorial gives some
props to our local art museum, which just snagged a nifty statewide award:
Those at Myrtle Beach’s art museum are holding their
head a little bit higher these days, and with good reason.
The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B.
Chapin Art Museum is receiving the S.C. Arts Commission’s highest honor, an
Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award.
“We are so proud. It’s like winning
the Oscar,” says Patricia Goodwin, executive director of the museum, the only
art museum in Horry and Georgetown
counties.
Tuesday’s editorial is a slightly
bizarre mashup of topics, on one hand talking about civility in leadership and
the other the overdue possibility of a new library in Myrtle Beach:
How much have relations between Myrtle Beach and Horry County
officials warmed in recent years?
County Councilman
Marion Foxworth’s
offhand remark at last week’s meeting about Chapin Memorial Library was a good
indication:
Sunday’s first editorial was cribbed
in part from one that ran 15 years ago:
Ready for a busy few weeks?
May is just around the corner, and it
brings with it a slew of events and visitors. How the events play out and our
reaction to them could determine not just their individual success, but our
reputation as a tourist destination and the repeat business of the hundreds of
thousands who will grace our shores this coming month.
Wednesday’s editorial celebrates the
arrival of 2-1-1 service in the region:
Georgetown County’s 2-1-1 service, which helps callers
locate community health and human service resources, started seven months ago
and handled more than 200 calls in February.
Horry County’s
2-1-1 system is being completed and should be fully operational in a few weeks,
according to Olivia Garren, president of the United Way of Horry County.
“We are actively working with [the United Way Association of South Carolina in]
Columbia. We
are in the process of inputting information. I cannot tell you when we’ll roll
out – it will be soon. We are real excited. It’s a big plus to have.”
Friday’s second editorial applauds
some common sense changes made to precinct boundaries last week:
Horry County Police Chief Saundra
Rhodes, who was just sworn in last September, continues to make an impact on
the department she oversees.
In the seven months between when she
stepped into the job on an interim basis last February, and in the six months
since she dropped the interim from her title, we’ve heard nothing but praise
for her efforts at the helm of county law enforcement. Leaders have lauded her
efforts to streamline her department and improve efficiency. So it was hardly
shocking to read last week that the department has tweaked its organization to
provide better service for those in need of the police.
Friday’s editorial is on SNAP
benefits and restricting unhealthy foods:
We’ve all watched belts loosen over
recent decades as America
struggles to keep its weight under control. The resulting health issues are
quickly becoming a national crisis that threaten to exacerbate already rapidly
growing health care costs. But becoming the government food police is not the
answer.
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.
Sunday’s editorial urges lawmakers to
act sooner rather than later to address our state’s crumbling infrastructure:
South
Carolina’s roads are crumbling beneath us, and ignoring the problem
will not make it go away. Action is needed soon -- this year, this month --
because the cost to fix our roads rises with every day that passes. And it will
mean tough decisions that require substantially more funding, not just
leftovers and scraps that are found here and there.
Not convinced? Read through the report
on South Carolina’s road system put together for the state and issued in
December by a diverse group of transportation experts. It’s only 13 pages long,
but it sets out in stark detail the enormous challenges facing our state and
the almost total lack of solutions in the works to meet those challenges.
Thursday’s second editorial celebrates the recent drop in
the state’s teen birth rate, though we’ve still got plenty of work to do:
The drop of South
Carolina’s teen birth rate to a historic low is great
news this week and should be duly celebrated. Teens should be concentrating on
education and learning to become responsible adults, not having babies. And
it’s wonderful that we’ve managed to get our rate down to 39.1 births for every
1,000 girls age 15-19, a drop from 54 per 1,000 just 10 years ago.
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