We still have problems today in spite of the strides we have made.
When I was 6 years old, my mother and I would have to take a bus from Wadesboro, N.C., to Charlotte for me to see an ophthalmologist. This was in the early 1950s. At the bus station, I asked my mother why there were separate water fountains and bathrooms for black people. Her answer was that it is just the way things are. I knew nothing about prejudice at the time.
My father worked in a hosiery mill and came home from work one day and said, “They are going to start hiring blacks and they will be taking our jobs.” If you saw the movie “The Help,” you would know that I was like Skeeter. I said to my father, “You complain about them being on welfare but you don’t want them to have a job.” You cannot have it both ways.
I played with the neighborhood black children because we lived in the country. I never went to school with a black person, not even nursing school in the mid-1960s.
I am disheartened that we still have racism today in spite of the strides we have made. Sadly, in my lifetime it will not disappear.
Ann Moody, Spartanburg
The smoking scourge
I applaud initiatives of Spartanburg city and county leaders in the pursuit of making residents healthier. And we can all take it upon ourselves to nurture and encourage others to make healthy choices in their lives.
Sometime in the spring or early summer of 2010, I was born again, so to speak. I divorced myself from tobacco completely after 30 years of being a smoker. I'll never understand or forgive myself for letting this repulsive habit intrude on my life.
Reconciling the person I am now with that person, the smoker, is hopeless. I have to bear this in mind when admonishing others for smoking, which I do, often. Strangers even, in a measured and gentle way.
My opinion is that it takes a full-court community press approach to confronting this scourge. My mother use to say simply about my smoking, "Rodney, that is not you.” And I knew what she meant and that she was right.
Once, years ago, someone I met for the first time about a business matter had the temerity, but also the consideration, to say, "I wouldn't have taken you for a smoker.” Boy, that stung. But it stuck with me.
As for the notion that former smokers will crave a cigarette every day for the rest of their lives, it's a myth. In fact, now, even breathing secondhand smoke at a distance makes me ill. I consider exposing children to secondhand smoke, especially in automobiles, to be cruel.
It's wondrous how we sabotage our precious lives with tobacco, poor dietary choices, alcohol, drugs or whatever. It's not wrong, when questioning others concerning unhealthy activities, to be relentless. The stakes are high. And if you didn't care — truly care — you wouldn't bother, and that will not be lost on them.
Rodney Starnes, Spartanburg
Offshore oil drilling
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke made a bombshell announcement recently regarding offshore oil drilling. After he met with Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Mr. Zinke decided to pull the federal waters off the coast of Florida from consideration as areas suitable for drilling for oil.
Mr. Zinke was quoted by The New York Times as saying, “I support the governor’s position that Florida is unique and its coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver.”
The immediate response was public outrage from all the other Atlantic Coast states being considered for offshore oil drilling.
Opponents of offshore drilling in the Atlantic are demanding to know why their state’s coast is not unique and why their dependence on coastal tourism dollars isn’t receiving the same favorable treatment.
Mr. Zinke’s decision to bypass the official regulatory process for developing a five-year plan for outer continental shelf oil leasing will have serious ramifications for his agency and the eventual oil leasing plan.
There is no question that he made a unilateral major decision based on a request from a Republican governor, one who is expected to run for the U.S. Senate in a highly competitive race. Congressional challenges aimed at protecting other Atlantic and Pacific Coast states may be forthcoming, and assuredly his action will be a basis for a future legal challenge to a final oil leasing plan.
Offshore drilling for oil is a highly risky process that will inevitably lead to oil leaks and spills that will harm local tourism economies.
Decisions on which states should be subject to having oil drilling off their coasts are no longer based on science, data, energy needs, economic impact or public input. Decisions are now based simply on what is in the best political interest of this administration.
Frank Knapp Jr., co-chair of the Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast, and president/CEO of the S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce
Misplaced blame
In last Sunday’s edition, the Herald-Journal’s editorial lamented the fact that a newly proposed tariff on newsprint was a threat to local news. I take issue with where the blame is focused.
The editorial stated that some newspapers may have to shutter their operations because of the increased cost of paper. This is fake news because we have read in the pages of the Herald-Journal that increased production costs are not related to a company’s profit or profitability. What is the difference between the government saying labor costs will double to $15 per hour or a roll of newsprint will double in cost?
You can’t possibly be saying that you believe there is a point where the cost of “doing business” makes your business model nonviable.
The editorial mentioned that it may be self-serving to complain about a tariff that may affect newspapers’ business (viability), but the real complaint was how terrible it will be for us, the readers of the Herald-Journal. As my father used to say, “Bushwah!”
Did the folks at the Herald-Journal close the printing plant in Spartanburg to better serve the local readers, or was it a cost-saving measure for the syndicate that now owns the paper?
We are supposed to be excited when the Sunday prep edition gives us information that is two days old. Who reads about the World Series winner two days after the fact? How many times in recent months have you seen the same article twice within a week? Very recently, a Dave Ramsey column was posted in two sections of the Sunday paper the same day.
My father spent his career employed at the Herald-Journal, and I am sad about what the paper has become. Not because of fake news, but faking the news.
Chip Rivers, Roebuck
A refreshing column
Thank you for publishing Ann McFeatters’ “Taking the measure of Trump” column that appeared in the Jan. 7 paper. I am one of the 76,101 Spartanburg County residents (63 percent) who voted to elect President Donald Trump, and one who is sick and tired of the endless stream of negative articles you run against our president.
It was refreshing to see Ms. McFeatters unintentionally list many of the positive changes Mr. Trump accomplished in 2017 to make America great again. Perfect!
Warren Redden, Spartanburg