Thursday’s Letters to the Editor

• Wright out to sabotage Obama

Uncle Jeremiah. Bob Herbert (The State, Wednesday) judges him smart. Maybe so. And he does voices. He does stand-up. Like a rapper out there over the edge, he does profanity. If the street doesn’t eat it up, the gullible media do.

But look deep and see a wily Uncle Tom out to sabotage a promising great hope for leadership and reconciliation in Sen. Barack Obama. Call it wicked smart, perhaps, on the part of a user scoring income and celebrity from a career (capped by his 15 minutes) not combatting racial division, but exploiting it.

Rev. Wright disgraces his pulpit.

KEVIN LEWIS

Columbia

• ‘State’ did great job on conductor search

Thanks to Jeffrey Day and Gregory Barnes for their reporting of the S.C. Philharmonic’s search for a new music director.

They did it just the right way, I think. They spent lots of time observing the candidates, they offered opinions of each of the candidates in a professional and objective manner, and they waited for the decision of the search committee.

They resisted the temptation to announce the “right person” before the decision was made. As a member of the orchestra and the search committee, I thank them both for their restraint and their confidence in the process.

We spent two and a half years searching for the right person to lead the Philharmonic, and we found him. Thanks again to Jeffrey and Greg for their support and their professionalism.

DOUG GRAHAM

Columbia

• S.C.’s retirement system needs an overhaul

Thank you for your editorial about state retirees and the cost-of-living adjustments. You were correct in stating that most of us assumed we would always get a full COLA after retiring.

I worked for the state for 34 years, and in all of those years, COLAs had been given to retirees. Somehow I missed the fine print about “discretionary.”

Right after I retired in 2005, full COLAs became endangered, and there was a lot of talk about them not being guaranteed.

I had a decent job, but did not see any chance for further advancement. Jobs for which I may have been qualified were being held by people on the TERI plan who were later rehired, after only a two-week break in service, for the exact same job (and salary) from which they had “retired.”

If the state government needs to save money, it should:

1. Stop the TERI program for new participants effective July 1.

2. Prohibit the rehiring of employees in their same jobs. (If employees wish to retain their jobs, they should not retire in the first place.) Otherwise, it is just plain double-dipping for them and a roadblock to advancement for others.

3. Reinstitute 30 years of service for full retirement benefits for anyone hired after July 1.

Please keep pushing the Legislature on this issue. Many former state employees will really struggle without COLAs.

JEANNETTE BROOME

Columbia

• Women don’t belong in men’s rest room

Question: Why is it OK for young women to use the men’s rest room at Williams-Brice Stadium?

While I was using the men’s rest room at the Kenny Chesney concert, two young women proceeded to use it, with other women waiting inside to use it also. The kicker is that a Richland County deputy watched and only laughed.

What if there had been young boys in there? If a man did this in front of a group of women, he would be arrested as a sex offender, and from talking with other people at the concert, this happens a lot at the stadium during big events.

JIM ARCHER

Columbia

• Keel will prove to be fair-minded chief

Gov. Mark Sanford did the right thing when he appointed Mark Keel to head the Department of Public Safety. I hope the Senate will confirm his appointment.

I had the opportunity to meet Mark many years ago, and he is not only a gentleman but a professional lawman. He is very qualified, fair and honest and is good in his profession.

I am sure he will correct all of the wrongdoing within the department. He would not have gotten the endorsement of former SLED Chief Robert Stewart had he not been deserving of it.

He will treat all the same, and that is what we need.

WALTER W. LINDLER

Irmo

• Affordable health care cuts costs in long run

If there were affordable health care in this country, I would not have had to have emergency gallbladder surgery two years ago, after suffering with bouts of gallstones for almost a year.

And my husband, if he had been able to have check-ups, might not have ended up hospitalized with congestive heart failure and would not now be permanently disabled.

It’s very simple: Preventive medicine is less costly than trying to fix a problem after it happens.

LAURA PETTIT CRISWELL

Columbia