Flood response outstanding
The recent torrential rains resulting in flash flooding brought to mind two key differences between Charleston's response to flash flooding compared to the deadly flooding in the Texas Hill Country earlier this summer.
First, in the Lowcountry, early and ongoing broadcasts of flash flood watches and warnings occurred well before and throughout the storm. The distinctive beeping sound preceding a warning announcement may have been tedious, but it made people abundantly aware of impending danger.
Second, the Charleston Police Department was proactive and seemingly everywhere. Whether officers were erecting barricades to block roads, taking them down once streets were safe or assisting stranded motorists, the multitude of blinking blue lights amid the blur of heavy rain gave assurance that those dedicated to protecting and serving were on the job.
Charleston citizens have much to be thankful for, and once again, the city government demonstrated an outstanding emergency response to dangerous weather. Collaboration between Mayor William Cogswell and City Council helped put a proper plan in place. However, nothing gets done without the hard work and dedication of the Police Department, which deserves our special thanks.
LEE MIKELL
Charleston
Leave out politics
The Rev. Adam J. Shoemaker wrote a beautiful column in the Faith section of Sunday's Post and Courier describing the need for the good Samaritan's spirit in our world today.
I'm familiar with the scripture that Shoemaker referenced regarding the good Samaritan helping the man who was beaten and robbed, then left for dead on the side of a road. However, as I read through his column and reached the eighth paragraph, I was surprised that he turned what was a great piece into a political issue -- specifically, his disdain for the current presidential administration. It is a shame that he had to take this route.
As a country, we have established numerous programs to help those who are marginalized and in need, and we continue to do so.
NORMAN STEWART
Charleston
Vaccines life-saving
As a concerned citizen, I endorse and praise The Post and Courier's editorial Saturday warning of the dire consequences of making it easy to avoid using vaccines that save the lives of our children, and indeed all of us. I found the editorial's fact-based response criticizing the simple use of non-medical exemptions for receiving vaccines spot-on.
As someone old enough to remember seeing people in iron lungs and in braces crippled by polio, and recall the precautions once taken to avoid tuberculosis, I am grateful there are safe, well-proven vaccines and antibiotics that have made those horrors a scourge of the past.
The utilization of easy vaccine exemptions to avoid what formerly would have been considered miraculous immunity is distressing. Equally troubling are the pronouncements questioning the efficacy and usefulness of several vaccines. In addition, there have been drastic cuts in personnel and funding at the National Institutes of Health for the development or improvement of many vaccines, including the miracle vaccine that protects against the harmful effects of measles.
Charleston named a street near the Medical University of South Carolina in honor of Dr. Albert B. Sabin, an immigrant who brought us the oral polio vaccine and lived in Charleston from 1974 to 1982. Our city, state and country will rue the day it was made easier to avoid the products of this wondrous medical science.
At a minimum, all of us should call out the dangers of allowing this harmful ease of avoidance to continue. Here, silence is not golden.
ELLIS KAHN
Charleston
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