Letters to the Editor

Time to retire

Despite his many contributions to the public good in his long political career, Arthur Ravenel Jr. needs to recognize that it's finally time to retire.

Not only does he behave intemperately and inappropriately in his role as a Charleston County School Board member, he then cannot remember exactly what he said or the context in which he said it, and he displays an inability to deal with the English language. ("It — the 'B' word he admits using inappropriately — means a troublesome woman or a female dog, or if it's used as a noun (sic!), it means to complain.")

The last time I was a pupil in the public schools of South Carolina, "to complain" was the infinitive form of a verb, not a noun. I hope that has not changed in the intervening years.

Should we require candidates for the Charleston County School Board to pass the PACT, a test of basic educational achievement administered to all our students?

JAMES T. OWENS
Fairway Dunes Lane
Isle of Palms

Harmful vetoes

The General Assembly showed leadership in addressing our serious problems of Criminal Domestic Violence (CDV) and DUI in the last three budget years by providing funding for the courts to resolve these cases.

To his credit, the governor has repeatedly spoken out about the need for strong laws to respond to the carnage on our highways caused by drunk drivers and likewise the physical and mental harm resulting from domestic violence in our homes. However, his recent budget vetoes give credence to the argument of many that he is "all hat and no cattle."

Money is needed for both prosecutors and public defender lawyers to allow these cases to be heard more swiftly statewide. Prosecutors received $3.8 million and the defense received $2.3 million.

The constitutional right to counsel means that DUI and CDV prosecutors must have defense counsel for indigent defendants in order to docket these cases and get them heard.

The consequence of the governor's action is to sacrifice existing public defenders, delay the movement of these serious cases and reduce the effectiveness of our courts. For example, in Charleston, our new county-wide CDV Court will lose its public defender. If the vetoes stand, Charleston will also lose two public defender attorneys in our General Sessions courtrooms. Ultimately this hurts victims and all who deserve prompt and effective handling of these important cases.

This is a statewide issue that deserves careful consideration. Due to last year's Indigent Defense bill, circuit defenders have already been installed to replace the old defender corporations. Charleston and Berkeley Counties now have a unified, accountable, more efficient Public Defender system that provides a vital service at a lower unit cost.

If these vetoes are sustained, DUI and CDV cases will limp along at an intolerably slow pace. Ultimately, the taxpayers will again be the victims of increased costs, law enforcement will be less efficient, and victims will be further abused by a crippled court process.

One of the vetoes that zeroes out their funding would eliminate the entire management structure for supervision and accountability adopted last year.

This veto throws the entire statewide public defender system into chaos and confusion.

It is important to justice and to public safety in our state that the governor's vetoes concerning the funding of Indigent Defense be overridden.

ANDREW J. SAVAGE, III
S.C. Indigent Defense Commissioner
Prioleau Street
Charleston

Patients as 'a joke'

I believe the following suggestion will close a gulf of paranoia and doubt between patients and caregivers. A health care facility opens the gulf when Cheerful Nurse tells Shy Patient to remove all clothing, put on a printed cloth gown and tie the strings together in the back. Cheerful Nurse leaves the room and Shy Patient unfolds a gown with no obvious top or bottom and with strings on opposite corners.

Cheerful Nurse, of the opposite sex, bangs through the door a half second after knocking, as Shy Patient clutches folds of the gown in each hand. Cheerful grabs Patient's clothes, along with personal effects, stuffs them into a plastic bag and tosses it into a closet, making Shy Patient a captive.

That is only one of many nerve-jangling jolts. The next one hits as Cheerful Nurse gives Shy Patient a pencil stub and a two-page questionnaire on a clipboard.

Shy Patient tries to keep the errant gown above the shoulders and fill in the blank spaces at the same time. The gap in the back spreads wider and wider as they walk through a room filled with curious strangers.

Cheerful Nurse leads the way to an examination room, straps Shy Patient to a table and attaches tubes, wires and monitors. Shy Patient lies there spread-eagled and helpless in the disarrayed gown.

Several well-dressed aides stand around the table and talk about last night's TV shows as if the blushing body lying in front of them is a seed catalog.

I suggest that the doctors, nurses and office staff wear the comfortable gowns while on duty.

That would put everyone on an equal plane, make a hospital visit less traumatic and relieve the patients of feeling they are a joke.

FRED M. ROBINSON
Indian Street
Mount Pleasant

Soccer decisions

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the hard-working staff that supervises recreational soccer at West Ashley Park.

Stacy Collins and her helpers have created a positive and organized environment that allows hundreds of Lowcountry children the opportunity to run around on Saturday mornings.

Switching to a small-side format allows for more touches and interaction with the ball for each player and aligns the city's program with recommendations made by several national and international soccer organizations.

As coaches and parents, we need to take full advantage of this opportunity. We need to let our children play the games on Saturday and refrain from trying to coach their every move.

In more traditional American games like basketball and football, coaches can call time-outs and run plays. Even in baseball, most coaches or managers decide what pitch players will throw. In soccer, it's different.

The game of soccer changes each time a dribble or pass is made. There are no set plays. If we want to develop soccer players, we need to allow them to make their own decisions, and we need to let them play without telling them what to do. Saturday mornings should belong to the players running in a pack and chasing the ball, not to the parents or coaches on the sidelines.

Not only will they have more fun, but they will develop into soccer players capable of making their own decisions. Who knows, by the end to the season they may also develop into leaders.

TOM CARROLL, M.Ed.
Hunter Creek Drive
Charleston

'Monkey' review

In Tim Pages's review of "Monkey: Journey to the West," he suggests that those who respond "at all" to the play, "are likely to love it." He, on the other hand, did not respond to it much at all (other than noting the performers' dazzling athleticism) and walked out early rather than see if the performance might at least have had a redeeming ending.

"Monkey" has been referred to as a "circus opera" and Page admits to having "fled in horror from the one and only circus I ever attended as a child."

For this phobia alone, Page should have disqualified himself. I might suggest that your readers read the review by John Stoehr in the City Paper for a less biased perspective.

Since "Monkey is the most famous comic hero among China's billion-plus people," as Stoehr observes, and is a fable that has had an enduring appeal for five centuries, Page's dismissal of "Monkey" as "the all time apotheosis of Saturday morning television" might just be one of the world's worst minority opinions.

PHILIP MURPHY
Tabor Road
Mount Pleasant