Charleston Currents

My Turn

FOCUS, Saul: Why telling the truth is so important

By Dr. Robert Saul, special to Statehouse Report | Truth-telling is an essential skill for personal life, for interpersonal social interactions, for community activities and for governmental decision-making.

This obviously goes without saying, but I would argue that we are suffering from some of the recent ill effects of “less than truth-telling.”

Before everyone starts pointing fingers at each other or at the other political party, let’s settle back and just be honest with each other. Truth-telling can be hard at times (it has consequences) and listening to truth-telling can be hard at times (it can change our thoughts and actions). And it indeed takes a good deal of perseverance.

Truth is not in the eye of the beholder. Truth is a series of facts that often need to be proven or investigated. Truth is not an opinion. Truth is not a series of alternate facts because a series of alternate facts is a series of untruths. The search for truth can be frustrating but eventually leads to the correct way to live and to conduct oneself.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 03/08/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, My Turn, Views

ANOTHER VIEW: Suffer the children

By Fred Palm, contributing editor | The ongoing raging COVID-19 community transmission that is expanding, like this year’s wildfires and tropical storms, will continue to impact children beyond this season. It is not over yet for them. Nor will it end for them. Children’s lives, like the lives of adults, are being damaged in many ways. But children have much less experience to return to. Adults have memory and lived perspectives.

by Fred Palm · 11/30/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Common Good, My Turn, Views

WEST: To be or not be in person in the classroom

By Gary West, special to Charleston Currents | On July 15, 2020, Gov. Henry McMaster lobbied for opening schools for all of South Carolina’s children – full classrooms, full-time, five days a week – while the pandemic continues to spread faster and farther.

West

Each school district in South Carolina has been required to submit a reopening plan to the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE). And all those plans were required to have an option for parents to send their students to school.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 08/17/2020 · Comments are Disabled · My Turn, Views

GIBSON: It’s time to debunk the myth of school choice

By Jen Gibson, special to Charleston Currents | Normally this time of year, my son and I are on the hunt for new shoes and the perfect pencil pouch. This year, we are struggling with masks and stocking up on hand sanitizer.

Like most parents, our family is wrestling with decisions about our work schedules, our vulnerable parents, and our child’s academic and social needs. All of our energy is focused on supporting students, teachers and our community during this unprecedented crisis.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 08/10/2020 · 1 comment · My Turn, Views

MY TURN: Book outlines how 4 presidents tackled difficult situations

By Elliott Brack, republished with permission | It’s fun to read books by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Here’s why: the author writes intelligently, figuring that the readers know basic facts about the overall book subject. So, she cuts to the quick, giving you new insights and facts about the stories you already know. You don’t waste time hearing her version of what you already knew.

by Andy Brack · 08/03/2020 · Comments are Disabled · My Turn, Views

ELMORE: Medicaid failure shows lawmakers don’t value black lives

By Brian Elmore, special to Statehouse Report | For every George Floyd and Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor and Walter Scott, thousands of African-Americans and people of color die silently each year due to a lack of access to health care.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 06/15/2020 · Comments are Disabled · My Turn, Views

LOFTIS: Maintain good financial habits during pandemic

By State Treasurer Curts Loftis | It’s no secret that money has a significant influence on our lives. While this is frequently made obvious in our daily routines, nothing underscores that sentiment quite like the current crisis.

Loftis

The emergence of COVID-19 has resulted in a societal spike of anxiety and fear, with many Americans rightfully concerned about their health during this time. Weighing just as heavily on our minds, though, are the economic consequences we are being confronted with.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 04/27/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news, My Turn

FOCUS: Start printing masks now

By Janet Segal, special to Charleston Currents | Here’s an idea: Local governments and the state — the county, its libraries, technical colleges and the like — should put idle 3-D printers to use now to print masks to keep our medical workers safe.

I am self-quarantining at home with two sewing machines, fabric, a pattern from the internet and I have been sewing facemasks.

According to my nursing friends, these will be helpful for elderly patients and their caregivers and for people outside the home who must go shopping. But they will fall apart after multiple washings. They are well-made but not designed for long-term use.

There are, however, masks that can stand up to repeated sterilizing — those made of plastic on 3-D printers.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 03/30/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news, My Turn

KNAPP: S.C. economy will survive if small businesses survive

By Frank Knapp, special to Charleston Currents | The City of Charleston has implemented a shelter-in-place order. Columbia has done the same. There are even calls for Gov. Henry McMaster to do so for all of South Carolina.

As a result of all governments’ actions and instructions to citizens for containing COVID-19 from spreading, small businesses are in crisis.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 03/30/2020 · Comments are Disabled · My Turn, Views

MY TURN: Investing in prevention is investing in S.C.’s future

By Joy Campbell, special to Charleston Currents | In fiscal year 2020-21, the state of South Carolina expects to have a $2 billion surplus and our policymakers face political challenges in determining priorities for the use of those funds. Unfortunately, some issues and agencies often have a tough time gaining their attention.

RELATED: Editor and Publisher Andy Brack’s latest commentary is on a related subject: How to spend the state’s $1.8 billion tax windfall.
Campbell

The agencies that serve children don’t get what they need because they lack the powerful lobbying interests that others enjoy. Children don’t contribute to political coffers or go to the polls. Therefore advocates and social services agencies voices are drowned and children’s needs are subverted by the voices of well-funded special interest groups with powerful constituencies and capital to expend.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 11/18/2019 · Comments are Disabled · My Turn, Views