Letters to the Editor

'Let it go'

My Uncle Johnny was on the USS Yorktown during World War II. A few years ago he visited me from his home in Oakland, Calif. While he was here I suggested we go visit his old ship. His comment: "My old ship is at the bottom of the ocean."

Turns out that he was aboard the first Yorktown when it was sunk in the Pacific Ocean during the war. He actually was in the water for a significant amount of time (we did not get into details) before he was rescued.

My point: both Yorktowns served this country well but that was then and this is now. Spending more than $100 million to spruce up a relic, especially in our present economic climate, is foolish.

Remember it, yes. Repair it, I don't think so. It's dead. Let it go. Life goes on. For what it's worth, I, too, am a Navy retiree, but I was too young to enlist until three years after the big war was over.

HARRY S. GRAY
Barrington Lane
Charleston

Decision delay

The Oct. 21 editorial titled "Time to get on with it," characterizing the president's delay on a decision to send more troops to Afghanistan as "dithering," just grasped the obvious with no awareness of other possibilities.

The Karzai people clearly tried to steal the election, and if the U.S. endorsed that, we would be pouring blood and treasure into a bottomless pit. The people would see us as no different from any other occupying power, notably the Soviet Union.

A more plausible scenario is that the Obama administration is signaling that if the Karzai government wants us to save them from the Taliban, they better do something about election fraud and corruption.

If the president takes another four to six weeks to issue a decision, then the editorial page may be right, but if this delay is a shrewd power play to force necessary change, then President Obama will show he's one tough, smart customer. What kind of president would we prefer?

ROBERT LOVINGER
South Held Circle
Charleston

The 'A' team

After seeing the excellent performance by North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey and state senators like Hugh Leatherman bringing in Boeing, I have a question: Is there a chance we can clear out the inept politicians in Washington, D.C., and replace them with this "A" team from South Carolina?

DAN KILLIAN
Rivers Reach Drive
Charleston

Property law

I disagree with the letter implying that the infamous GOP property law, Act 388, was passed to keep all longtime homeowners from being taxed out of their homes. This is simply not true.

The truth is only longtime real property owners located in rapidly appreciating areas get a tax break while owners living in areas that appreciate slowly will see a tax increase to pay for the tax break.

According to the state Board of Economic Advisors, $372 million will shift statewide from the most expensive homes, second homes and commercial businesses located in the right locations to lower-and-middle income owners located in the wrong locations. According to early studies in Charleston County, $42 million in property taxes will shift from wealthy, real property owners located in locations such as Peninsular Charleston, Kiawah, Sullivan's Island, Mount Pleasant and Folly Beach to lower-and-middle income real and personal property owners located in areas such as North Charleston. Expect 90 percent of all tax bills in year 2011 to be higher as a direct result of the 15 percent value cap.

Reassessment caps cannot be applied uniformly; consequently, no one pays their fair share of taxes.

Wealthy real property owners pay on bogus values and pay less than their fair share, while poor and middle-income real property owners pay on actual value (called capped values) and pay more than their share to make up the difference.

Act 388 is a diabolical system that defies logic, denies equal treatment and should be repealed by a constitutional amendment.

BOB HENDERSON
Withers Drive
North Charleston

Maersk talks

Isn't it inspiring that the ILA was not willing to make any concessions for the rest of the Lowcountry economy in the negotiations with Maersk?

Along with their brethren in the auto, textile, aircraft and other industries, they are willing to lead us all into the future, as they have in the past.

Maybe Jimmy Hoffa will reappear to take them to their just rewards. President Obama can then qualify for the What, Me Worry? Award as the rest of us watch the country go down the tubes.

ANDY WARREN
Farm Quarter Road
Mount Pleasant