The Opinion Blog

Fake Pot, Real Bans

Should Surfside Beach be spending its time banning synthetic drugs? We take a look in Thursday’s editorial:

We can certainly understand the worries of Surfside Beach leaders, who appear poised to ban a slate of synthetic drugs in the town in the coming weeks. The substances in question can induce vomiting, nausea, hallucinations, paranoid behavior, anxiety and seizures. Why anybody would voluntarily choose such nasty experiences is mystifying. Nevertheless, the town’s proposed action may not be the best solution.

Without Great Choice for President, It's Obama

Sunday’s editorial offers the editorial board’s thoughts on the presidential election:

Few things about this presidential election have lent themselves to unambiguous, clear decisions, despite what the campaigns and their diehard supporters might like us to believe. Neither of the major candidates is a miraculous savior or unmitigated fiend. Both stand before U.S. voters with significant high and low points, and nobody has managed to leap to the fore as the obviously better choice.

For proof, you need look no further than the latest polling data. We give our fellow Americans credit for being fairly smart and invested in the future of this nation, and as such, if the decision on picking our next leader were an easy one, we wouldn’t be coming down to the wire with two candidates that are still neck and neck.

Studies Are Fine, but Only Laws Count

Tuesday’s first editorial:

The ethics reform commission announced last week by Gov. Nikki Haley could be a strong step in the right direction, but the proof will be in the enacted pudding – or the lack thereof.

Coordinate the Laser Limits

Tuesday's editorial both applauds the limits set on laser sales and at the same time urges municipalities to better coordinate them:

One of the most common sense policy initiatives in recent years has been the effort by the Coastal Alliance to set uniform beach regulations up and down our shores, standardizing what have historically been a patchwork of local laws.

The Alliance, made up of local mayors and the Horry County Council Chairman, attempted to ease the plight of visitors, who almost certainly take little time out of their vacation to pay attention to where one city ends and another begins.

While the rules addressed thus far, regulating activities such as horseback riding and surfing, made for a good start last year, the initiative deserves to be taken further, tackling other concerns that affect the entire Strand and don’t stay within neat borders. Lasers would be a good place to start.

Time for Fairness in the Marketplace

Is it time for Internet retailers to charge the same sales tax as local retailers? Thursday’s editorial thinks so:

It’s been frustrating to watch for the past few years as state services have been cut, needs have been put off and S.C. employees have been laid off. But such are the realities when revenue dries up. Less money coming in means less money going out, a simple equation that has prompted drastic cuts at many state agencies.

In the face of such belt-tightening, it’s been particularly galling to see one promising revenue source ignored. At last, however, that could change. A bipartisan bill being considered by the U.S. Senate could open the door to increased sales tax collections on online purchases. The Marketplace Fairness Act would empower states to require large online retailers to collect and remit sales taxes on purchased items.

Keep the Lasers Out of the Sky



Tuesday’s editorial:

Immature. Juvenile. Idiotic. Childish. Irresponsible. Reckless.

We’re running out of adjectives to describe the careless, dangerous beachgoers who’ve decided it fun to shine lasers at aircraft. But we’ll try.

Asinine. Naive. Puerile. Foolish. Infantile.

We Need Stricter Licensing Rules

Friday’s editorial calls for better checks by state licensing boards before licenses are issued and better reporting of information to consumers on current license holders:

Want to make sure that the real estate agent you hired and plan to entrust with the keys to your home is worthy of that trust? Plan to check the background of your health care provider to ensure he’s not cutting corners? The state licensing boards that oversee such professions may not be the best place to check.

Google is probably a better bet.

Victory at the Hotel Pools

Tuesday’s editorial:

News last week that Congress had finally acted to scrap the absurd regulation barring temporary pool enclosures in floodplains was an all too rare example of common sense at last winning out over one-size-fits-all federal regulations. And while the change comes only after some local hotels forked out tens of thousands of dollars to comply with the rules, the belated fix is welcome nonetheless.

We Need Some HOA Rules



HOAs have almost all of the capabilities of a municipal government, but without the concomitant rules. That’s a situation in need of change, as Sunday’s editorial shows:

Fifty years ago this past Friday, South Carolina’s Horizontal Property Regime Act went into effect, legalizing a new-fangled property experiment called condominiums. It would probably be safe to say that the authors of that 1962 law had no idea of how much the idea would take off. The concept was still so novel that in 1965, The Sun News ran an article entitled “Condominium Ownership: What It Is, How It Works.”

Today, a half-century later, the Grand Strand is not only familiar with condos, but with community associations of all sizes and shapes. Many, if not most, are now governed not by that 1962 act, but by no state association law at all.

History Paved Over?



Tuesday’s editorial addresses a recent change governing state rules on coastal development:

State regulators’ recent decision to no longer require coastal developers to conduct archaeological surveys before building is a short-sighted and unfortunate choice.

South Carolina has archaeological sites that stretch back up to 12,000 years, said Elizabeth Johnson, deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. The coast in particular, as the first place Europeans settled, is rich in sites of historic significance. Many have been found, identified and studied, but nobody really knows how many others are out there to be discovered.