Last Updated on 5/24/2013

Published on 9/13/2012

Big-box store would be ‘oozing sore on the beautiful landscape'

This is a letter I wrote to County Councilman Ron Charlton:

Dear Councilman Charlton,

I am a voting resident of Georgetown Precinct #1 and I am writing to voice my adamant opposition to the proposed Wal-mart store on Pawleys Island.
One of the most compelling reasons in my decision to relocate to this beautiful area was the absence of big-box and national chain stores.  
When it’s necessary for me to source items that can only be found in national chains I happily make the trip to Mt. Pleasant or Myrtle Beach.
I do not believe that the proposed Wal-Mart will bring additional jobs or tax revenue to Georgetown County.
One only has to perform a cursory search of the Internet to see how big-box stores ravage the towns near them; and the statistics bear out the fact that Wal-Mart employees increase the welfare and govenment assistance rolls in every area in which stores are located.
Indeed, while a Maryland resdient I witnessed this first-hand. Deserted Main Street business districts are not a pretty sight.
Councilman Charlton, please always vote against allowing big-box stores, and in particular this Wal-mart store, to open on the Waccamaw Neck.
It will be an oozing sore on the beautful landscape, harmful to the precarious local environment, and not at all in keeping with the charming ambiance of the area.
And most likely, the approval of one such store will attract others, much like decaying flesh attracts maggots.
As so much of the local economy is fueled by tourist dollars it’s important to consider just why people choose our area for vacation.
From what I hear, it’s the calm and peaceful atmosphere people desire – not the antiseptic strip malls, horrific traffic, and big-box store which they came here to escape.
Thank you for your thoughtful and informed consideration of this most important issue and your subsequent vote in opposition of big-box construction on the Waccamaw Neck.

Linda Abate
Georgetown


Broken promises of the party leaders

Fellow overtaxed voters, are you happy that the 2012 Presidential Nominating Conventions are over and we are nearer the end of listening to the future broken promises of the party leaders?
Do you remember what national politics was like back in our younger days?
While both political parties had different views on social, fiscal, and national defense issues, there was an overall unanimity in support our faith in God, our Constitution, our Republic, and our traditions.
If you remember those heady days from the 1960’s, I think you will see that is when the nation started losing its national harmony.
We experienced major political divisions led by college students rioting on campuses and the public square, the start of serious addiction to illegal drugs by our young, burning of draft cards, new music genre introduced into our culture, and a loathing type mistrust of leaders of both political parties by the younger members of the nation’s population.
As the leadership of a nation goes, so goes the nation.
We saw an effort by President Reagan to not only bring his party together, but also his nation and for a while, he did just that.
However, since then, the nation has seen political opposition once again divide our nation to the extent it is no longer recognizable to those of our generation.
This we can see in the way in which the leaders of both political parties are handling the crises that the nation is facing right now.
Every move made in the Oval Office, the halls of the Senate, the House of Representatives, and sadly, the chambers of the Supreme Court is made with the thought process of party power and ideology, rather than what is best for our nation.
Party ideology has become more important to the nation’s leaders than the refurbishment of our once great nation.
The majority of our nation’s problems could easily be resolved if the two party system could put their party differences aside and concentrate on resolving the enormous difficulties that we are facing.
Should that happen, the citizens might find unity of purpose and our Republic could survive.
Sadly, for our nation, what took place during the conventions was a vocal condemnation from speakers from each party against the other party.
We citizens heard very little about from each party what their plan was to overcome serious fiscal, social, and spiritual problems facing our nation.
An informed neutral observer would have to say the argument of both parties was division, division, and more division (mostly from the DNC), between the citizens from this nation.
It takes the efforts of a united citizenry to overcome the serious problems our nation faces.
Judging from the political campaigns that are now taking place that simply is not going to happen. At the rate we are going, the chaos being created from political and ideological differences, it will soon result in the citizens of our nation losing complete control of their government and that spells the end of our Republic as we knew it during the middle of the last century.

Art Blenk
Pawleys Island