Ending unemployment benefits isn’t fair to those who can’t find pre-COVID level work
Unemployment
I am a 61-year-old electrician who, until COVID-19, worked in the maintenance division at Hospital Services. I expected to retire in ‘28, but last year, in an obvious effort to avoid liabilities, HSI closed its doors for good, offering to continue our medical in return for hold-harmless waivers. Since then, I have searched for employment, using the S.C. Works system, which is excellent, along with my own contacts, both military and civilian.
I find that although statistically employment is returning, most companies are now hiring younger workers who have more years ahead of them than behind. I’ve been told this multiple times. This is understandable, of course. Despite claims of worker shortages, it’s actually a buyer’s market when referring to skilled labor. The only people who don’t wish to return to work, in truth, just don’t wish to return to poverty-level wages. Most, myself included, would jump at anything within range of our pre-COVID lives.
Next month, McMaster will end my unemployment benefits, both federal and state, in his plan to “transition” us into minimum wage slavery. This is heartless and cruel, even for Republicans! You want to help? Don’t cut us off next month! And raise the minimum wage!
David Stuard, Lexington
Natural gas vehicles
An opinion piece was published on April 25 identifying the Biden administration’s pledge to reduce our carbon emissions by 50% by the end of the decade. It’s clear that this pledge is an important step toward reducing climate change, and it’s also important for the administration not to take a misguided approach by disparaging all fossil fuels.
Considering the transportation sector is the largest source of carbon emissions that exist today, with the majority of those vehicles powered by gasoline or diesel, reduction of these fossil fuels is critical. A third fossil fuel that is too often overlooked is natural gas. NGVAmerica states that natural gas offers the most cost-effective solution for reducing vehicle emissions.
This is especially true of heavy-duty vehicles which have duty cycles unfitting of current electric vehicle technology. This includes diesel-powered freight trucks, refuse trucks, transit buses, and school buses. Their natural gas-powered counterparts can replace more of them than any other vehicle technology that exists today. Natural gas vehicles can also be powered by renewable natural gas (RNG), which provides additional income for local farms and offers the lowest lifecycle carbon intensity of any other vehicle technology.
Paul Sandsted, Columbia
Pro-life
Earlier this year, S.C. Gov. McMaster passed the S.1 “South Carolina fetal Heartbeat And Protection From Abortion Act” and was parsed in “pro-life” groups for doing so, but he then goes then on to sign S.200, a bill to make the electric chair the default form of execution in the state, with the option of lethal injection and a firing squad if they are available at the time the person is scheduled to be executed.
The state of S.C. once used the electric chair to kill an innocent 14-year-old African American boy who was convicted in a 2-hour trial with no physical evidence — only the circumstantial fact that the boy had spoken to the victims shortly before their murder.
Also, Gov. McMaster never put a mask mandate in place because he didn’t have the power, and it should be left up to local authorities. Later, he said schools couldn’t force students to wear masks after saying he had no control over it. Now, the COVID-19 virus has taken more than 8,500 lives of our fellow South Carolinians. S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster is not “pro-life.”
Hayden Laye, Walhalla
Accountability
I would like to understand why that 18 year old was out on the streets and able to kidnap 15-year-old Sanaa Amenhotep and murder her. He initially was out on a $7,000 bond for having a pistol and a domestic violence charge! Did the Judge not recognize he was escalating? If that were my daughter, I would find out who that Judge was & confront her. Each time a bond is set, we need to have the name of the judge who sets it. Somebody needs to be held accountable for the death of that girl besides the murderer! This isn’t the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last. The police need all the help they can get out there, and that means the judicial system! If it is broken, fix it!
Annie Bates, Irmo
