Local reporters outperformed those who parachuted into Murdaugh trial, reader writes

Good work, local media

A shout out to the local media -- John Monk and his colleagues at The State; Jeffrey Collins, the fine South Carolina Associated Press writer; the folks at the Post and Courier and all the others for their tireless coverage of the Alex Murdaugh trial.

These reporters worked the story for years. They had the background and perspective to tell the entire story unlike some of the national and international media who jet in with superficial knowledge of South Carolina and our justice system and a whiff of condescension toward the state and its people. It’s maddening.

What’s also maddening is how television stations, including some of the locals, dispatched anchors to Walterboro for the last day or two of the trial, where they did pompous standups as though they had covered the story all along.

Nobody likes to be big-footed and it’s really a disservice to the reporters in the trenches who put in the long, thankless hours covering this important story.

But thanks again to those reporters. It’s reassuring in this day of social media and “fake news” to find on-the-ground journalism is alive and well in South Carolina.

Bruce M. Smith, Columbia

Disappointed

I’m disappointed that The State has decided to stop providing the Dilbert comic strip. Regardless of the creator’s recent comments, he has a right to free speech.

Rudy A. Berry, Darlington

Bad service

I am upset about the hours of our so-called Convenience Centers in Beaufort. This is not the first time we have encountered this problem so I hope the County Council will take notice.

I was out of town recently and my wife took the trash to the dump.

Monday, Feb. 20, was a holiday so she went on Tuesday and then Wednesday.

Closed, so she went on Thursday. The person told her she had been there the allowed three times per week, but let her leave it anyway.

We the residents pay for that place to be opened.

In my opinion when there is a holiday, it should be open on a schedule to handle the flow.

Also who gives them the right to tell us how many times we can take our garbage?

R. E. Williams, Beaufort

Support public ed

I grew up in a middle class family in South Carolina and am proud and grateful to have been educated in Lexington District 2 public schools.

My experience wasn’t perfect, but it was excellent. It prepared me well for college at Furman University and medical school at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

My three children also had a great public education in South Carolina and other states during my time in the Navy.

Because of this, I read with dismay in late-February that the S.C. State Legislature is seeking to change the state constitution to allow for taxpayer funding of private schools, a move that is designed to and will undermine support for the state public school system that prepares our citizens for adult life and work.

Legislators call their effort “School Choice.” I instead support public “School Life” since the life and health of our state education system is at stake.

J. Smithwick, Greenville

Beware Yankee Tax

One of the great advantages of being a citizen of the United States is our mobility, our almost entirely unfettered way of crossing state lines legally and without intimidation. To see the disadvantages, we can simply observe what the UK has lost in their ill-advised Brexit, which cut them off from that mobility, which has affected trade, international comity, and simple neighborliness.

The proposed South Carolina “Yankee Tax,” proposed fees for new resident for driver’s licenses and vehicle registration, like the efforts to weaken public education, intentionally or not, are another chink in the unity of our nation.

There are those who have for many years tried steadily to erode our national sense of “We the People,” our unity, our solidity and our resolve.

Any movement to exploit “differences” among our states and — by extension — our people is a movement toward national weakness. As President Lincoln reiterated so memorably, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

For all of our perpetrated indignities and moral weaknesses, we the people have always been able to refresh ourselves by calling up those historically ingrained ideals of justice and equality embedded in our national documents.

We must always pay close attention to legislative and other efforts to divide us.

We have been known worldwide as an inviting country; that bothers some people, but for most of us, it’s the means of strengthening ourselves.

My late mother, born in Alabama, as I was, used to speak scornfully of “Yankees” as if they had personally injured her and her family. She was wrong, I regret to say. We should’ve learned better by now.

Robert Hill, Westminster