Letters to the Editor

Reclaim the day
Thanksgiving is slowly being swallowed by national retailers’ perpetuation of the ominous Black Friday.

Gone will be the days of cooking a beautiful turkey, sharing food with family and friends and spending hours around the dining table actually experiencing gratitude. Each year national retailers are moving their opening hours earlier and earlier.

A few years ago we were outraged by the stores opening at 5 a.m. on Black Friday. Then it was moved back to midnight, and now they are encouraging folks to start lining up at their doors as early as 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

Local business owners don’t fall prey to this vicious cycle of consumerism at any cost. They still value the time spent away from the store with family and friends. They understand that their employees also need this time of rest and reflection before a busy holiday season.

When decisions are made by absentee owners in Arkansas to extend the hype of Black Friday into one of the few holidays not focused on consumerism, we need to make the decision, as the consumers they are catering to, to not support this bad behavior. Imagine your mom, dad or child who is unable to be with you on Thanksgiving Day due to a grueling shift at a faceless conglomerate.

Let’s reclaim Thanksgiving this year, not just for ourselves but for all those who work for the national chains that might like to experience Thanksgiving as it was meant to be.

Jamee Haley

Huntington Drive

Charleston

Good job
The first page of the Nov. 9 “Moxie” section is one of my all-time favorites. A senior who simply refused to give in to adversity and a couple whose love and caring will change the lives of two small children. Keep up the good work and let’s see more stories on same-species adoptions.

Tom Doyle

Godfrey Park Place

Charleston

Degrading words
I agree with a Nov. 14 letter writer that Gen. David Petreaus is a great man; however, the writer owes me and every Vietnam veteran an apology for the remainder of his comments. His statement that “during the Vietnam war era, our government paid for the rest and recreation to Bangkok for sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll” is disgusting and inaccurate.

This statement degrades all veterans, especially those from the Vietnam era. Yes, the government paid for a few days’ R and R in different countries, but it is inaccurate to suggest that all the men wanted was drugs, sex and loud music.

While some may have indulged in that activity, it was a welcome time for the majority to get out of a muddy hole for a few days and see and smell life once again, as life could end as soon as they returned to Nam.

The writer should be ashamed for his comment. If he is not a veteran, he can learn from vets. Visit those without eyes, arms and legs and those with multiple scars in the Ralph H. Johnson VA Hospital on Bee Street.

They stepped forward when their country called.

Not all did.

Fred Tetor

Erckman Drive

Mount Pleasant

Budget cuts
Let’s get off this 10-year bit. We are not trying to defend the “rich.” They can defend themselves. But anybody who proposes an annual budget reduction of $200-$300 billion as a good start to dealing with a budget of deficit of over $1 trillion simply is not serious about solving the problem.

This should look ridiculous to any person.

Ken and Barb Ford

South Basilica Avenue

Hanahan

A local asset
As I worked in the “Wounded Warrior Project” booth on a recent Second Sunday on King Street, I was reminded why I enjoy living in Charleston. It is the people.

Residents and visitors opened their hearts, wallets and purses to support this organization.

Special thanks to Terry Hamlin, who allowed me and other volunteers to raise funds and awareness of the needs of our military.

Thanks, too, for all who donated and offered to join the “Wounded Warriors Project” in future fund-raising events.

George Arlet

Glen Erin Drive

Mount Pleasant

A simpler time
I was wondering how one person could have taken all the contents of locked file cabinets or all the file boxes that are in storage at the S.C. Department of Revenue for 1960.

Gregory J. Adams

Wavespray Court

Mount Pleasant

History repeats
Very smart people have said things that appear to hold true over history. Here is one example:

About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, spoke about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior.

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”

He said civilizations advanced from bondage to spiritual faith to great courage to liberty to abundance to complacency to apathy to dependence and back into bondage.

It appears that more and more people in this country know less and less about the cost of freedom. More and more do not understand the phrase “freedom is not free.”

Our country’s future is in the balance.

In 1960, Nikita Khrushchev said, “We will bury you without firing a shot.” Given our country’s internal problems, I would not take that bet.

Fudgy Brabham

Lakenheath Drive

Mount Pleasant

Bravo
As a former member of the theater community, it has been personally gratifying to see the exciting growth of live theater in the Charleston area.

Though not new, but recently having secured a permanent home, the Pure Theater Company has consistently provided a professional excellence that would match, if not exceed, any Broadway offering.

Their current production of “Good People” is a perfect example. The acting and direction are flawless. The show will run through Dec. 8.

I would urge anyone interested in exciting and innovative theater to attend this production, or any of the rest of the season’s productions.

Judith Vane

South Battery

Charleston

Job opportunities
It’s about time the citizens in communities who have lost their jobs due to the decline or departure of manufacturing related to tobacco, furniture, textiles etc. seek a remedy.

I would suggest that the employees organize and form a corporation or cooperative and purchase some of the vacant facilities and produce the same products that they have experience in producing.

This is nothing new. Employees of the airlines and the steel mills have done this and have been successful.

Higher education and community colleges could be good resources to utilize in this venture, and it would pay dividends for the participants.

Students would have an opportunity to broach new ideas and get internships. Employees could contribute their experience and encourage more proficiency in production.

Business majors could see how the profit line increases and decreases. It is a win-win situation.

Many state government agencies are available to assist those who are interested in pursuing an effort like this.

This is not socialism. This is for your survival.

Perry R. Leazer

Certificate Court

Charleston