TheSunNews.com: Issac Bailey

Issac J. Bailey | The risks, reward of that old time religion

Sun, 27 May 2012 22:30 EDT

On a recent visit to Dallas, courtesy of ultra-low-priced promotional airline tickets from Spirit, on a quick family get-away, we visited two of the highest-profile houses of worship in the country.

One was the Potter’s House, home of Bishop T.D. Jakes, a mega superstar in religious circles around the world. It has 30,000 members.

To get into the church, we had to park at the far end of a parking lot the size of an amusement park’s and walk through an elevated tunnel across a street so as not to harm the flow of traffic.

Funding remains an issue for small start-ups in the Myrtle Beach area

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:36 EDT

Last year, Theresa DeCindio set out to become the first entrepreneur in her family.

She drew up plans for the Critter Cottage, a pet-boarding facility.

Then she sought funding to make the business a reality.

Issac J. Bailey | The courage to lead the 7th district

Thu, 24 May 2012 17:20 EDT

In anticipation of some upcoming 7th Congressional District candidate forums, I wanted to come up with a clever question that would force those vying to represent us to reveal themselves beyond talking points and a recitation of all the things that most of us already want to hear.

We all want lower taxes when possible.

We all want more jobs that pay higher wages, especially given the recent report showing that the Myrtle Beach metro area’s average annual salary of roughly $31,000 is the lowest in the country.

Issac J. Bailey | Poverty real threat to stable future

Thu, 24 May 2012 06:05 EDT

Frederick Douglass, one of America’s great thinkers, in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” told a story of how he became educated enough to not only escape the actual bonds of slavery, but the mental ones as well.

Part of his youth was spent with a slave owner who provided a fair amount of food to his slaves. Douglass would sneak off with some of the leftovers and meet up with a few of the poor, white boys in the area.

He’d give them food. In return, they helped him learn how to read.

Issac J. Bailey | St. James student ‘collateral damage’ of bomb threat frenzy

Sat, 19 May 2012 14:32 EDT

Bomb threats have gotten so out of hand this year in Horry County that even someone at Lakewood Elementary School got in on the act last week.

“This is our first elementary school evacuation because of a bomb threat,” said Teal Britton, spokeswoman for Horry County Schools. “It was found in the bathroom … again.”

In early December, a threat was written on a piece of paper at St. James High School. It, too, was found in a bathroom.

Issac J. Bailey | I’m not in a traditional marriage

Thu, 17 May 2012 15:24 EDT

I’m a man married to a woman raising two young kids under the same roof.

Our children weren’t conceived until a couple of years after we walked down the aisle.

But I am not a part of a traditional marriage; I’m part of a modern one.

Issac J. Bailey | Bike rallies demonstrate our freedom to get on each other’s nerves

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:56 EDT

A sign on a large beachfront home had a couple of our readers irate, so perturbed they snapped a picture and emailed it to us.

The sign read, “Show us your …” um, bare chest.

I suspect it wasn’t intended for me or any other man and has long been one of the most popular Bike Week catch phrases.

Issac J. Bailey | Myrtle Beach-area man urges Americans to unify

Fri, 11 May 2012 16:52 EDT

Before Frank Gironda moved to the Grand Strand from New York less than two years ago, he had already lived a full life.

The 84-year-old fondly recalls the couple of years he spent playing minor-league baseball in Florida for the Panama City Fliers in the early 1950s.

“I made a couple hundred bucks,” he said.

Issac J. Bailey | Blacks must not forget

Thu, 10 May 2012 22:51 EDT

Black people know what it’s like to feel invisible, as though you exist only in the dark recesses of other people’s imagination.

They know what it feels like to be marginalized, put upon, spit on.

They know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of the ugliest of stereotypes, to be demonized by those who refuse to acknowledge the person you really are and not some conjured up, distorted perception of you.

Issac J. Bailey | Stance on gay marriage detracts from accomplishments

Wed, 09 May 2012 06:07 EDT

When President Obama takes the stage in Bank of America stadium in Charlotte late this summer to accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, he’ll be standing roughly 20 miles south of Davidson College.

The two are alike in ways that came into sharper focus this week. They are directly linked in the person of Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, a Davidson alumnus who graduated from the school a couple years before I did. He was instrumental in luring the Democratic National Convention.

President Obama and Davidson can claim credit for important, recent historic achievements. President Obama has done more for the cause of gay rights than any president before him. And Davidson has taken the lead nationally in assuring that low-income students will not only be able to afford college but walk away after four years without school-related debt.

Issac J. Bailey | Girl dedicates birthday to other kids

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:49 EDT

Months before her 9th birthday, Skylar Nobles, like many other children her age, dreamed of what that day would like.

But unlike most children her age, she told her mother she didn’t want the friends who would attend her party to bring gifts – at least not gifts for her.

Instead, the then 8-year-old said she wanted them to bring new pairs of shoes that could be donated to a charity that helps children who are less fortunate.

Issac J. Bailey | How best to police parental mistakes?

Thu, 03 May 2012 09:13 EDT

Determining when it’s OK to remove a child from her home is hard enough.

Constitutional rights have to be balanced against the creep of governmental-overreach in the context of doing what’s best for the child – a standard that’s as clear as mud.

It’s even harder to determine when a parent should become a criminal for seemingly irresponsible decisions that result in harm to their children.

Issac J. Bailey | What if Trayvon Martin was your son

Wed, 02 May 2012 13:53 EDT

A 17-year-old boy was shot dead not far from the home where he was visiting his father.

He was carrying a bag of Skittles and a drink.

He wasn’t breaking into a house.

Retired Myrtle Beach general laid groundwork for bin Laden raid

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:29 EDT

On an April day in 1980, Gen. James Vaught stood with President Jimmy Carter and other top national security officials in the White House Situation Room to scrutinize classified plans to end the Iranian hostage crisis.

The mission was to rescue 53 American hostages who had been held since the previous November, but its ripples were felt one year ago this week, when a small group of highly trained members of the U.S. military slipped into Abbottabad, Pakistan, to end one of the longest and most high-profile manhunts in history.

Vaught was the director of operations and mobilization readiness for the U.S. Army in 1980. He led emergency efforts of all sorts, including responding to natural disasters. But the Iranian rescue would be different, would present the military with new challenges and would expose operational flaws that would revolutionize the way clandestine missions were conducted.

Issac J. Bailey | The woman’s life matters, too

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:11 EDT

Sometimes I get the feeling that many of those who insist that life begins at conception and call abortion of any kind murder forget that the pregnant woman has a life, too, one that needs to be honored, to be loved.

By doing that, they’ve taken a legitimate position – upholding the sanctity of life – and perverted it.

The latest example came recently in the S.C. General Assembly. On a 3-0 vote in a Senate panel, a budget clause that would eliminate a woman’s ability to get an abortion through a state health plan if she’s a victim of rape or incest was approved.

Issac J. Bailey | Tax increases might be the best way

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:58 EDT

Would you contribute $18 to a fund that could help alleviate the pressure of heroes who are willing to risk their lives to keep us safe?

Ask the question that way and people instantly start passing around the hat and happily contribute even more than the required amount.

People would wax poetic about the necessity to take care of those who take care of us.

Issac J. Bailey | We must be stronger than the problems we face

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 07:50 EDT

Every Monday at 3 p.m. for several weeks recently, I had my hands full with an 8-year-old boy who possessed more energy than the sun.

I was a weekly tutor for the literacy non-profit Freedom Readers at its Darden Terrace Conway Housing Authority site.

I volunteered specifically to tutor that particular 8-year-old. He was such a handful that he was on the verge to be asked to leave. The program is built upon one-on-one tutoring, so one disruptive child can have an outsized impact.

Issac J. Bailey | Myrtle Beach leaders should hold themselves more accountable

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:03 EDT

Myrtle Beach City Council has not done enough to stop the violence that has claimed the lives of too many young people, including most recently 25-year-old Apricia Brockington, who died more than a month after being shot outside a nightclub that has since been deemed a nuisance.

How do we know council hasn’t done enough? Because the job is not complete, the problem has yet to be solved.

I thought that conclusion was self evident before Bennie Swans, one of the most active and vocal anti-violence community members, made an impassioned plea before council recently, concerning Brockington’s death.

Issac J. Bailey | Simplistic tax slogans are outdated

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:12 EDT

The Myrtle Beach Tea Party will hold its fourth annual Tax Day Rally in Chapin Park in Myrtle Beach from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, in conjunction with other such rallies throughout the nation.

When I attended the first one, it was packed, signaling the beginning of a movement that garnered national headlines and helped shaped the political debate locally, statewide and in Washington.

Among the myriad signs participants carried that day at Chapin Park, one message seemed to symbolize the event more than any other.

Issac J. Bailey | Drugs, an equal opportunity crime

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:33 EDT

No group has immunity from the country’s drug problem.

Jeremy Caruso, the 35-year-old son of the owner of the Prestwick home where an alleged methamphetamine lab was found in the driveway, was arrested along with a few others. His father said Caruso doesn’t choose his friends wisely but is innocent.

The drug lab wasn’t constructed or housed in Prestwick. It was found in a car that carried people who were trying to visit Caruso, meaning it was more about the people allegedly involved than the community.