Letters to the Editor

Seismic roulette

A March 21 letter writer questions, on the basis of cost, the need for moving students out of schools in the peninsula of Charleston since there is only a 1 percent chance of an earthquake in the next 50 years that would cause those buildings to collapse and crush the life out of a few thousand of our children.

Imagine if a person had a box full of bullets -- 99 blanks and only one live round -- and selected at random one of the bullets from the box and chambered it in a convenient handgun and then pointed it at his or her child's head and squeezed the trigger.

That person would, without question, be prosecuted and imprisoned regardless of whether the child lived or died. The child would immediately and permanently be removed from that person's custody.

Is it so very different for us as citizens living in one of the most seismically active regions in the country to knowingly leave thousands of children in such deadly peril in schools which will collapse upon them in the event of even a moderate earthquake?

May God have mercy on our souls if we are wrong in the answer to this question.

John P. Bowler

Mulroy Court

Charleston

Different signs

Pictures speak a thousand words. The photograph on the front page of the March 22 Post and Courier says it all. Those who are demonstrating for this takeover of the health care system are carrying slick, professional, paid-for signs. Those opposed are carrying crude, homemade signs.

Which group is using astroturf?

And more importantly, who paid for the signs?

"So this is how Liberty dies, with thunderous applause." -- George Lucas, "Star Wars"

Joan E. Peters

Coral Acres Drive

Moncks Corner

Hidden cameras

I read the March 16 article on hidden cameras in the Francis Marion National Forest. Since when does anyone have the right to remove a camera from property that isn't theirs?

As far as I am concerned, this was a misdemeanor and a fine should have been levied. The U.S. Forest Service should have asked for compensation for replacing the camera.

Secondly, the gentleman asked if it was safe to camp in the forest. You are in the middle of a forest and animals, both human and others, are on the prowl. Duh. If anything, he contradicted his own Fourth Amendment frustrations since the camera was probably his only link to protection.

And then, of course, we have the "privacy issue," which an attorney (who else?) has began talking about after he received a call from this aggrieved camper. I'll bet only a million dollars would make him feel better.

Does any of this ever end? Can't wait for the new full-body scans at airports when men and ladies dressed in their traditional Muslim attire are given a free pass (wouldn't want to violate their religion), the old lady from Des Moines is given the "full monty" and the plane is blown up by one of our fine religious friends.

Seymour Rosenthal

Waterfront Drive

Mount Pleasant

Fix I-26

Now that we are in a period of sustained temperatures above 35 degrees, I can expect the Department of Transportation to resurface I-26 from Summerville to North Charleston, starting this weekend, right?

Hopefully it can follow through a little better than they have on its promise to sweep the windshield-cracking and paint-chipping delaminated pebbles from the road every week until it was warm enough to do a full resurfacing. My car thanks them in advance for this promised work.

P.S.: The next time the DOT applies a surface that is going to last only 10 years (at best), perhaps it should consider putting a reminder on the calendar to do necessary replacement work on or before the 10th anniversary.

A. Thomas Price

Sully Street

Goose Creek

Music Fest

Recently the Charleston Music Fest presented world-class musicians who performed not one, but two brilliant chamber music concerts with all the energy, skill and confidence of those who are born to give the gift of music. The players presented beautiful music by Handel-Halvor-sen, Bartok, Saint-Saens, Rachmaninov, de Falla, Ravel, Shchedrin and Shostakovich.

The "blockbusters" were the Piano Quintet in F minor by Johannes Brahms and the Trio in D minor by Felix Mendelssohn. Both are very demanding, but they soared into the hearts and minds of the audience when played by the chamber music group of violinist Lee-Chin Siow, cellist Natalia Khoma and pianist Beatrice Long.

Violinist Tomas Jakubek and violist Jan-Marie Joyce finished out the five players needed for the Brahms quintet. Throughout both concerts, the audience sat spellbound.

The second half of Sunday's concert was a cello recital given by master cellist Vagram Saradjian and accompanied by pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky. In what was a true tour de force, Saradjian played the entire second half by memory, and did so with great sensitivity and ease.

Co-directed by Siow and Khoma, who are both on the music faculty at the College of Charleston, the Charleston Music Fest aspires to bring distinguished musicians from all over the world to Charleston to offer enriching performances to the community and to provide the college's music students with opportunities to interact with and learn from the finest players in the world.

I can say without equivocation that one could journey to New York, Boston, Seattle or any large city and not hear chamber music played any better than what we can hear in Charleston at a Music Fest concert.

Their last concert for the year will be at Ashley Hall on Rutledge Avenue and will be an all-Chopin program in celebration of the composer's 200th birthday. Hopefully, many will attend, get to know the gifted performers and hear music that will leave them in awe.

K. Jackson Thomas

Spring Garden Street

Charleston

Fine example

Before the Sofa Super Store fire, Chief Rusty Thomas could do no wrong. He was a smiling and welcome sight at ball games, in Christmas parades and while holding boots to collect money for burned children.

He was an especially welcome sight in a fire emergency. For 32 years, this third-generation firefighter saved our citizens' lives and our historic properties from destruction. When an emergency arose he went to work, just as his brother, father and grandfather did. Now, Chief Thomas' son, Trey, has graduated from The Citadel and donned a uniform, becoming the fourth generation to fight fires.

There has never been a year since 1914 that the Thomas family did not have at least one family member fighting fires. Chief Thomas' father fought fires for 40 years, his brother for 29 years and Corbin Thomas, the great-uncle of Rusty Thomas, died on the job during his 38th year as a firefighter for the Charleston Fire Department.

Now, there is a small group calling for him to be prosecuted criminally for his leadership role in an horrific fire. If Chief Rusty Thomas is supposed to be a criminal, why is it that I feel as though James Island could use a thousand more good men like him?

Anne P. Hutto

House of Representatives

Charleston County District 115

Charleston

Waste of money

First, there was the letter telling me that the census form was coming and it did. I filled it out and returned it. A few days later I got a postcard asking me to fill it out and return it saying also, "It's the law."

What next? Maybe a thank you note? I guess the post office needs the business since it's going broke.

Harold Cooper

Chambers Lane

Mount Pleasant