Sunday letters to the editor

• Developers respond to community’s wants

I am a developer and have been for the last 55 years. I am constantly amused at the residents of any area making the same objections to land-clearing, high-density housing, traffic congestion, crowded schools, etc.

The fact is, any developer is only going to build what he believes there is a demand for. That demand is created by a growing population and by these same residents who are complaining.

The solutions are similar — smaller families, no growth, no new jobs, less commercial space, less traffic and no new schools, etc.

So, which do we want?

DARNALL W. BOYD

Columbia

• Hold the cell phone: Why was ban nixed?

Hold on! Let me make sure I have read this correctly. The House just dumped an initiative that would have banned young drivers from using cell phones while driving because the opponents believed passage may lead to all drivers not being able to use cell phones while driving?

Is that right? So, what’s the issue here? Sounds like a possible win-win to me! It looks as though the old South Carolina elitists are alive and well — and still ruling by pressure rather than brains!

BILL HOWARD

Lugoff

• U.S. treads softly to avoid civil war in Iraq

Recently there was an article to the effect that Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia has been disturbing the sanctity of our Green Zone by firing rockets into it from its Sadr City stronghold. In response, we are erecting a wall up to 12 feet high through Sadr City in hopes of holding down the rocket attacks.

Having the most powerful military machine on the planet, why not just go wipe out the Sadr City enclave? Because the Pentagon’s greatest fear is that al-Sadr will give the go-ahead for a full-fledged civil war. This would bring to a crashing end all the pretenses of “when they stand up, we stand down,” “planting the seeds of democracy in the Middle East,” “buying time for the Iraqis to create a stable government,” “fighting them over there so we won’t have to fight them over here,” etc.

All of the excuses will have run out. Even the most fanatic neo-cons will have to admit that five years have gone down the tube, tens of thousands of Iraqis have been uselessly killed, billions of dollars have been flushed down the toilet and 4,000 G.I.s have died in vain.

To avoid having to make this admission, we will do almost anything, including putting more G.I.s in harm’s way.

This is why we can’t go after al-Sadr, but who will report it?

C. HUGH CAMPBELL JR.

Hartsville

• Washington does nothing on top issues

I see that the people who represent us in Washington are doing the same about the price of gas and diesel as they did to resolve immigration, Social Security and the price of medicines, and that would be absolutely nothing.

I think that the people in Washington need to get their priorities straight as to what is best for the people they represent, not what is best for the party or their election campaign. Maybe it would help if they spent more time working on laws and less time on vacation.

ROBERT J. BUECHLER

Camden

• Subprime managers lead to bank losses

Perhaps no corporation better exemplifies the new reverse-Robin Hood model of corporate governance than Wachovia Bank: Fat-cat executives, endowed with megamillion-dollar compensation packages, make egregious investment decisions and then stick it to the stockholders.

CEO Ken Thompson’s total compensation for 2007 was $15.8 million. Many of the other executives of the bank received in excess of $2 million. These were the bright minds who decided to buy adjustable-rate mortgage lender Golden West Financial in 2006 near the peak of the housing boom for $24.2 billion. About half of Golden Financial’s mortgages originated in California, one of the worst-hit areas of the country in the ongoing subprime mortgage mess.

And for all the millions executives received in pay, what did the stockholders get? The bank recently announced it is slashing its quarterly dividend per share from 64 cents to 37.5 cents. An investment of $10,000 in Wachovia stock a year ago is now worth about $5,000. While many would attribute this loss to subprime mortgages, it is more likely the result of subprime management.

PETER BEAUDETTE

Columbia

• Drilling in ANWR won’t solve gas crisis

As correctly quoted in The State, there are probably about 11 billion barrels of petroleum in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.

Sounds like a lot! However, what also needs to be mentioned is the fact that the United States is currently consuming between 7.3 billion and 7.6 billion barrels of petroleum each year, which means there is only enough petroleum in ANWR to fill our needs for a year and half.

Doesn’t sound like so much when you look at it this way, especially when you take into account the horrendous damage to the environment that would occur if drilling were started.

HENRY NECHEMIAS

Columbia