Voice of the people | Feb. 1

State needs water-use rules

South Carolina is one of the few states without water permitting regulations. Legislators must pass a water withdrawal bill to protect our state’s water and ecosystems. Proposed legislation in the Senate and House Ag Committees would promote ongoing access to precious water resources by requiring permits for larger surface water withdrawals (3 million gallons per month, or the amount that a small business might use).

As the drought demonstrated, we must improve our weak, poorly enforced water regulations. A protective water bill would strengthen our negotiations with neighboring states about shared water supplies, promote business by ensuring that water will be available, and conserve water for future generations. I thus support Senate bill 452 and House bill 4285.

Elizabeth Duda

Tega Cay

We need reforms on many levels

We might have thought that the health care bill before Congress could be negotiated into something acceptable to the American people after the election of Sen. Scott Brown from Massachusetts.

We need health care reform. People who have pre-existing conditions should have the right not to be turned down for coverage. Tort reform, pharmaceutical reform and insurance reform need to be evaluated to lower the cost of our health care.

Trial lawyers prey on missed diagnoses by doctors on patients with lawsuits, many times with ridiculous sums of money. As a result, insurance companies charge doctors higher rates for liability insurance, which causes doctors to order many unneeded tests on patients that we end up paying through doctors’ fees, hospital fees and insurance coverage.

Pharmaceutical companies in this country are charging exorbitant rates. Go into a drug store anywhere in Mexico, Central America, South America, and you will see the difference. “Oh!” they say, “don’t trust the drugs.” Well, check and see where most of the drugs that are being sold in this country come from, not made in the USA. Also, note that the AMA supports the health care bill; check and see if your doctor is a member. Bet he isn’t.

Pharmaceutical companies are spending millions on advertising trying to persuade you to use their drugs, but they can’t issue prescriptions. Doctors do, and for the most part, they will prescribe what you really need.

Good old Rep. John Spratt wrote a loophole into the budget agreement that he authored. The Democrats can use a process of reconciliation to pass Nancy Pelosi’s government-run health care bill without any input from Republicans and without the threat of a filibuster in the Senate.

Let us thank John Spratt for the underhanded politician he is to pull a stunt like that. A man who puts the Democratic Party before the the desire of his constituents.

John claims that the population is split 50-50, but what do the polls show? Better take a look.

David Jerolmon

Edgemoor

Veterans monument left out a branch

The new Veterans Garden at Glencairn Garden is a wonderful expression of gratitude by the community to those who served their country, especially in times of war. Such honor and gratitude should not be reserved for some, however, but extended to all branches of service.

The planners of this memorial were remiss for not including the United States Merchant Marine. During World War II, more than 250,000 Merchant Mariners served their country. They delivered the goods whenever and wherever needed in every theater of operations and across every ocean in the biggest, most difficult and dangerous transportation job ever undertaken. Vessels manned by Merchant Mariners transported a full 97 percent of all WWII supplies.

The U.S. Merchant Marine is the oldest branch of service in the country, established in 1775 during the Revolutionary War and suffering a heavy loss of life in that particular conflict. Moreover, during WWII, the Merchant Marine suffered the highest casualty rate of any branch of service. One out of every 26 mariners lost his life in the service of his country.

On Oct. 14, 1945, Gen. Douglas MacArthur said of the Merchant Marine: “They have brought us our lifeblood, and they have paid for it with some of their own. I saw them bombed off the Philippines and in New Guinea ports. When it was humanly possible, when their ships were not blown out from under them by bombs or torpedoes, they have delivered their cargoes to us who needed them so badly. In war, it is performance that counts. ... I hold no branch in higher esteem than the Merchant Marine.”

Perhaps, upon reflection, the planners of the Veterans Garden will find a way yet to include the U.S. Merchant Marine in the memorial. Otherwise, we will continue to be the forgotten heroes of WWII.

I am proud to say that I am a WWII veteran of the United States Merchant Marine. God bless America.

John P. Nowak

Indian Land