Letters to the editor

‘Glorious Easter’
I’m writing this letter at the end of glorious Easter Sunday, a day of prayer and renewal for Christians throughout the world.

The parishioners at Grace Episcopal Church on Wentworth Street had an Easter they’ll not soon forget. The sanctuary at Grace was badly damaged last September by the earthquake centered in Virginia, and it can’t be used until repairs have been made.

So Grace had its Easter services at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue on Hasell Street. I guess the folks at the temple didn’t have any plans for Easter Sunday — God’s lovely irony.

Many thanks to the members of KKBE for sharing their worship space with us and, more importantly, for reminding us of the boundless power of God’s grace.

There’s something inspiring about celebrating Easter in a synagogue. It could only happen in Charleston, a bastion of religious freedom since the ’80s (the 1680s that is).

Shalom. He is risen … y’all.
William R. Bates Jr.

Gibbon Street
Daniel Island
Praising The Pig

Am I the only person who tears up each time Piggly Wiggly’s new “local since forever” commercial is shown? It not only captures the true spirit of our community, but accurately reflects The Pig’s long history of commitment to the Lowcountry.

It seems like no matter the cause it is always a part of the support, whether it’s food for a fund-raiser or financial support for a worthy cause. It’s just The Pig’s culture to give generously with no strings attached simply to build our community.

It also does a tremendous job of promoting local businesses. I can’t imagine that any other grocer in town has as large an assortment of locally produced items.

What a great place to live. What a great place to shop.

See you at The Pig.
Jenks Bailey

Flambeau Place
Mount Pleasant
Working overtime

Why do liberals have to politicize everything?

Your lead article on March 31 about the Family Circle Cup was, amazingly, a story about Title IX. Nothing about the players, the sponsors, what to expect, nothing.

So in that spirit, let’s get something cleared up, and that is the “equal pay” shibboleth that has been a theme in women’s tennnis for decades.

Nobody objects to women getting paid big money to play professional sports, and in tennis they certainly do make enormous sums of cash.

However, in tennis, especially in the Grand Slam events, women, while paid the same as the men, most definitely do not do equal work. The men play five sets, the women three. And further, the men generate far more revenue for the WTA and for the networks that pay them.

Since their matches are 40 percent longer, they provide 40 percent more advertising time to sell. And let’s not forget that their longer, more profitable matches also generate higher ratings, which allows the networks to sell spots at a higher unit cost than for the women’s matches.

So: longer matches, more revenue, higher ratings, equal prize money.

Who’s getting short-changed here again?

James Lippman
Wando Lane
Daniel Island

Folly history
A recent letter in The Post and Courier, titled “Morality issue,” was most disturbing and very inaccurate — historically. The writer’s personal issues with “morality” are one thing. However, to distort history and the naming of Folly Island because of his bigotry is another.

To quote from “Stories of Charleston Harbor” (page 63), published in 1930 by Katherine Drayton Simons, the historian, poet and novelist who in later years published her novels under the nom de plume Drayton Mayrant and who was inducted into The South Carolina Academy of Authors in 1997: “Folly is an old English word. One of its definitions is ‘a clump of fir trees on a hill.’ Another is ’an object of thick woods.’ ”

“An even older form of it is ‘volly.’ Example of this is ‘Volly Hill’ at Hampstead Norreys. The word Folly, at a later date, came to be applied to any thicket or densely wooded spot. Carolina buccaneers were accustomed to speak of Carolina’s jungular sea islands as Follies ... Shute’s Folly is said to have been under cultivation in 1730 and to have been covered with groves of orange trees.

“About our earliest record of it is a grant to Colonel Alexander Parris in the year 1711. In this document it is mentioned as being two hundred and twenty-four acres in area at low tide.”

It would be most interesting to see if the writer could identify the current name of Shute’s Folly based on his ability to research.

To express one’s political or religious beliefs is a given right. However, to distort history and pass along to others — especially our children — incorrect history, is another and is inexcusable.

I hope our friends and residents of the beautiful Folly Island will take this fact of their history and see that it is perpetuated.

F. Ambler Simons
River Breeze Drive

Charleston
Profit motive
I see and read on a daily basis the racial conflicts between blacks and whites, yet my everyday experiences and interactions with black people are no different than with white people.

Why don’t we read and see all the conflicts between white people only? My guess is that would not serve the troublemakers and the news sellers.

Race baiting is a business, and like all successful businesses, those who profit from it try to keep it going.

Greg Firpo
New Castle Loop
Goose Creek

Flag story facts
Over the past week, we at The Beach Company have been pulled into an interesting debate about patriotism and civic engagement. We have also witnessed the incredible power of social media — some good, some bad.

I would like to clarify what The Beach Company has always stood for. We consider our role as responsible, responsive corporate citizens to be of utmost importance.

Our employees number over 260, and our investments cover the Lowcountry. We work here, live here, and have invested generations of our energy into this place we call home.

We are proud Americans. I am a second generation Citadel graduate, and many of our friends have and continue to serve bravely in the military. Some came home; others never did. We feel their loss to this day.

When last week’s news broke that we had requested the removal of two flags — one American and one POW/MIA from poles on Market Street, we were unfortunately, immediately painted as unpatriotic. This could not be further from the truth. The fact is that we were simply working with a tenant through what we perceived to be a private matter pertaining to the adherence to city regulations.

Let me be clear: The Beach Company was in no way expressing disrespect or disregard for the men and women who have served and who currently serve in our armed forces.

We were not objecting to the flag for any political or aesthetic reasons. We were simply attempting to comply with city requirements.

Since then, we have received many angry emails and calls, indicating how passionately many people feel about these flags, and their right to display them.

We have been stunned by the tone, and by the speed with which misinformation spread nationwide.

As of Monday, both flags are flying on Market Street. We have concluded that the positive result of this debate would be for the city to find an appropriate, permanent, highly public place for this honorable reminder to wave. But we leave that to others to work out. Until they do, the flags remain at Majestic Square.

Our company has been here for more than 65 years, and we believe our legacy and reputation will stand the test of this week-long misunderstanding.

John C. L. Darby
President and CEO

The Beach Company
King Street
Charleston