School board trustees who walked out sent wrong problem-solving message to students
Walkouts not the answer
The implication of The State’s editorial about Richland School District Two is that walkouts are appropriate means for objections or problem-solving. The menacing question is: “Will future dissents result in walkouts?”
What is more important is that our students and our children, for whose education and character we are responsible, deserve better examples and more mature methods of proffering advice and addressing a grievance than through the unseemly and untoward behavior we witnessed from the three members who walked out, which only delayed an approved contract that had already been vetted legally, as your editorial attests.
Terrence Cummings, Blythewood
Sad news for governor
It must have been terribly disappointing to Gov. McMaster to find out this week that South Carolina ranks second in the nation behind Tennessee in the number of children hospitalized with COVID. He has worked SO HARD to make us number one.
Harry F. Smithson, Columbia
Voter education critical
I am a staunch supporter of newspapers in print. I also support news that can make a difference, positive or negative.
In the week prior to National Voter Registration Day (Sept. 28), I opened The State to a prominent article with pictures about a Charleston designer’s gold bracelet ending up on Jill Biden’s wrist. The Murdaugh family saga continued from the front page on throughout the paper. Several articles also addressed politics.
Nowhere was National Voter Registration Day mentioned.
Tell me about local and national politics, but also how I can participate. Remind everyone of the voter registration cutoff date for local elections.
Family dramas and fashion come and go, but the political process is forever, or for as long as we keep voter registration and education prominent and foremost.
Elizabeth Jones, Columbia
Help farmers succeed
South Carolina’s agricultural community deserves to be part of the climate debate that is taking place in Washington, D.C. — as do farmers across the country.
The decisions our elected officials make have a direct impact on the agriculture industry and local farmers’ ability to succeed in a topsy-turvy economic climate.
That is what makes the recent Senate-passed legislation known as the Growing Climate Solutions Act so important. It is a bold, bipartisan policy that will expand access for farmers to the carbon credit market and improve resources for them to implement practices that capture carbon and reduce emissions.
This voluntary, market-based approach is a smart way to encourage farmers to incorporate sustainable farming practices without relying on heavy-handed regulations. It has also garnered widespread support from the agriculture industry and environmental experts.
Rep. Joe Wilson should follow the lead of both Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott by voting “yes” on the Growing Climate Solutions Act.
The sooner this bill passes, the better off S.C. farmers will be.
Michael Burgess, Lexington
